OUR Moscow may announce even during the current week one or more “illegal” referendums in the occupied Ukrainetrying to justify the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia, its representative told reporters today White HouseJohn Kirby.

“We have information that Russia continues to prepare a bogus referendum” in Kherson, Zaporozhye, separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and Kharkiv, said Kirby, who is a national security spokesman.

“The Russian administration has instructed to prepare for these referendums,” he added. “Indeed, we expect Russia to announce the first mock referendum before the end of the week,” he said. “The United States and the international community have made it very clear that any attempt to place any territory in Ukraine under (Russian) control will be considered illegal,” he warned.

The US also believes that Russia will falsify the results of these referendums to show that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia. “To put it simply, this is wrong,” Kirby said, citing several polls conducted in recent months among Ukrainians living in Kyiv-controlled territories that show more than 90 percent do not want to join Russia.

President Joe Biden, who today announced a new nearly $3 billion military aid package to Ukraine, will speak later on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. “We continue to mobilize the free world, encourage our allies and partners to support Ukraine, which defends its national sovereignty,” the representative stressed.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}