Kiev has expressed outrage over Russia's plans to hold presidential elections on occupied Ukrainian territory in the spring – in an election that is likely to see Vladimir Putin extend his grip on power until at least 2030.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the elections, scheduled for March 17, “null and void” and promised that any international observers sent to monitor them would be “held criminally liable.”
Russian authorities plan to organize votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson – areas that Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine last September but does not fully control.
Votes are also planned in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Collectively, these areas make up almost a fifth of Ukraine.
Putin, who has been in power since 1999, has taken steps to extend his repressive and unbending grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy for elections this week.
Vladimir Putin, who has been in power since 1999, announced his candidacy for the elections this week (file image)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky listens in during a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I, during a visit to the Patriarchal Church of St. George
A damaged residential building in the occupied Donetsk region on December 9, 2023
Ukrainian soldiers leave a Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) in Donetsk on December 7.
Signaling that he intended to lay the groundwork for votes in the areas, Putin on Tuesday signed legislation allowing votes to take place under conditions of martial law – which is in force in the regions.
Despite calling the regions its “new territories,” Russia does not fully control any of the four regions and Ukraine continues to battle its forces in the south and east.
With many of Putin's main political opponents, most notably opposition leader Alexei Navalny, imprisoned and silenced, the despot is all but certain to win.
The only potential challengers – who are not jailed – are 79-year-old Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and nationalist Liberal Democratic Party leader Leonid Slutsky, 55.
None of the men have announced a decision on whether they will run for office.
The presidential election announcement follows local elections for a Russian-installed parliament in occupied parts of Ukraine in September.
The votes were denounced as a sham by Kiev and the West.
Putin announced that he will run for president again after some 24 years in power, either as president or prime minister
In his speech to Putin at an awards ceremony at the Kremlin, Lt. Col. Artyom Zhoga praised the president for annexing Ukraine's Donbas region and implored him to seek re-election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi (right) visit a Ukrainian Army command post in Kupiansk, Kharkiv
“We call on the international community to firmly condemn Russia's intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories and impose sanctions on those involved in its organization and conduct,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said about the latest announcement.
It comes as Ukraine's leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have admitted they fell short in their counter-offensive launched in the spring.
On Friday, December 1, Zelensky said the plan had not achieved “the desired results.”
As the war rages on and frustrations grow among Ukrainian soldiers and their families at home, many blame him for alleged battlefield shortcomings.
Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko addresses journalists during the opening ceremony of the Podilsko-Voskresenskyi Bridge on December 1
Rescue workers work at the site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile attack in the city of Novohrodivka, Donetsk, on November 30
Earlier this week, the mayor of Kiev, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, pointed out the president's declining popularity in an interview with Swiss media.
'People wonder why we were not better prepared for this war, why Zelensky denied to the end that it would come to this. People see who is effective and who is not. Zelensky is paying for the mistakes he made.”
The 52-year-old, who has been mayor of Kiev since 2014 and is a political opponent of the president, added: “People wonder why we were not better prepared for this war. Why Zelensky denied to the end that it would come to this.'
Ukrainian soldiers shoot at targets towards Avdiivka, Donetsk, as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues on December 1
“The president has an important position today and we must support him until the end of the war.
“But at the end of this war, every politician will pay for his successes or failures.”
Klitschko dismissed suggestions he might consider running for the role of prime minister: “It would be stupid to think about that today. Today the only question is whether Ukraine will survive at all.'
Like Russia, Ukraine's presidential elections will also take place in March, but the constitution prohibits them from taking place under martial law, which is currently in effect.
Zelensky said last week that now is “not the time for elections” and added that speculation on the issue was “irresponsible.”