Ukraine prevents Zaporozhye region’s residents from participating in the voting for accession of the region to Russia  

MELITOPOL, Sept.26, (ST)- The number of people seeking to enter the liberated part of the Zaporozhye Region has increased amid a referendum on the region’s accession to Russia, Chairman of the We Stand With Russia movement Vladimir Rogov told TASS.

“The number of people seeking to travel here has increased but Ukraine is preventing them from leaving, knowing that they are going to cast their ballots. In fact, the road has been blocked by Ukraine,” he noted.

In the same context, the chairperson of the regional election commission, Marina Zakharova, said that the referendum on the accession of the Kherson Region to Russia is valid already, with voter turnout hitting more than 50%,.

“We can safely say that the referendum is valid, as voter turnout exceeded 50%,” she said.

According to Zakharova, the Kherson Region began the fourth day of its referendum vote on time, with 543 mobile brigades surveying the region.

More than 8,600 people cast their vote at polling stations in Russia over the past day, she said. In all, over 25,000 residents from the Kherson Region have voted since the referendum kicked off.

On September 19, the civic chambers of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics appealed to immediately hold referendums on uniting with Russia to the heads of the republics. The next day, the DPR and LPR authorities announced that the vote would be held between September 23 and 27. The administrations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions later revealed plans to conduct referendums on the same dates.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour