Moscow-held regions of Ukraine in ‘sham’ vote to join Russia

Russia’s sham elections began in occupied Ukrainian territory Friday — long predicted “referendums” as to whether the pieces of sovereign Ukraine should be considered Moscow’s.

The votes — orchestrated by the Kremlin as Russia loses territory on the battlefield — are the first steps in an expected annexation of Ukrainian territory, and have widely been denounced as frauds by Kyiv and the West.

Voting began Friday in the occupied provinces of Luhansk and Kherson, as well as in the portions of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces that are under Russian control.