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Ukraine fears Russia is preparing ground for a spurious referendum to take control of occupied territories in the south of the country.
Human rights commissioner Lyudmila Denisova said Russian forces were distributing propaganda material telling people in occupied Kherson that Moscow was acting for their benefit.
She said leaflets handed out “blame the Ukrainians themselves and their chosen government” for the aggression against their country, echoing the Kremlin’s messaging about the invasion.
Russia in 2014 claimed control of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine after a referendum supposedly showed public backing for an annexation.
The poll was widely rejected as a sham by western countries, who said it was a breach of Ukraine’s constitution and that voters hardly had a free choice when Russian troops were on their soil.
Ms Denisova said there was evidence that Russia was planning a similar vote in the Kherson region in early May, citing witnesses who said ballot papers were already being prepared at a local printing house.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry meanwhile said Russia was planning to falsify results by collecting personal data on residents under cover of distributing humanitarian aid.
As well as spreading propaganda to locals, Russia says it has donated humanitarian aid to people in Kherson including food, blankets and school supplies for children.
Residents have expressed concern that they will be mobilised into Russia’s armed forces if it succeeds in orchestrating a pro-Kremlin result, the Ukrainian ministry said.
Ukrainian authorities say any such ballot would be illegal, because the constitution requires the whole country to vote on any territorial changes and three million to people submit a petition to trigger such a poll.
Ukraine’s allies have raised similar concerns. The US delegate to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said there were reports of “sham elections” being planned in Kherson in an echo of the Crimea vote.
British military intelligence suggested last month that Russia was planning to give Kherson a similar status to Crimea and the breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces seized control of Kherson in early March in one of their most significant military victories of the war, although some protests have taken place against their occupation.
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Thick smoke rises from Rubizhne city after a series of Russian strikes. AFP -
A civilian building hit by a Russian missile in Lviv, Ukraine. At least six people were killed and eight wounded in missile strikes across the city, its governor said. Getty Images -
A train travelling from Dnipro passes by the site of an air strike in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo -
At least three rows of new graves are created for people killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at a cemetery in Irpin, Kyiv region. Reuters -
People attend a 'Free Ukraine' demonstration in Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. EPA -
Aid workers carry bottled drinking water to a humanitarian centre in Odesa. From there it will be sent to the neighbouring city of Mykolaiv, which has been without its central water supply for days as a result of damage during hostilities with Russian troops. AFP -
Residents examine a crater on the road, after shelling in Kharkiv, north-east Ukraine. AFP -
Firefighters tackle a blaze in a residential building, after a bombardment in central Kharkiv. AFP -
A teenager sits on a playground swing, opposite a gutted apartment block in Borodianka, in the Kyiv region. AFP -
A man leans his foot on the barrel of a destroyed Russian tank while tying his shoelace, in Andriivka, Kyiv region. AFP -
Ariana plays with her dogs Chim and Nunia, inside a train, minutes before arriving with her family in western city of Lviv from Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian troops run for cover from explosions, during a Russian attack in central Kharkiv. AP -
Ira Slepchenko, 54, and Valya Naumenko, 47, embrace as they mourn the deaths of their husbands, at the exhumation of a mass grave in Bucha, near Kyiv. AP -
Father Paul Koroluk, of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Japan, leads parishioners in a Palm Sunday procession outside Saint Alban's church in Tokyo. Getty Images -
Wounded civilians await medical attention after Russian shelling in Kharkiv. EPA -
Residents bury two bodies in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv, where hundreds of people were found massacred. AFP -
Ihor welcomes Lyudmila, who has returned from neighboring Poland, at Kyev-Pasazhyrsky train station. AFP -
Galina Bondar, 63, who said her son, Olexander Bondar, 32, a territorial defence member, was killed by Russian troops, kisses the plaque bearing his name at his grave in Bucha. Reuters -
A badly damaged block of flats in Mariupol. Reuters -
A woman sits at what remains of a bus stop in the southern port city. Reuters -
Pro-Russian troops drive tanks near Mariupol. Reuters -
People attend a Palm Sunday church service in Kharkiv. Getty -
Passengers rest on the train minutes before arriving in Lviv from Kyiv. AP -
A man takes a selfie in front of a destroyed Russian tank in the village of Andriivka. AFP -
People outside Downing Street, London, take part in a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. PA -
The Ukrainian flag flutters between buildings destroyed in bombardment in the town of Borodyanka. AFP -
Firefighters at work in the aftermath of a Russian shelling in Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen run for cover as explosions are heard during a Russian attack in Kharkiv. AP -
Christina Dragun holds her daughter, Olya Siksoy, during the burial of her husband, Ukrainian soldier Ruslan Siksoy at Lychakiv Cemetery, Lviv. Getty -
Vehicles destroyed during the Russian invasion lie at a junkyard in Irpin. EPA
A power grab in Kherson could involve Russian forces preventing entry and exit from the city and disconnecting communications, Ms Denisova said. Western countries said there was no independent monitoring of the 2014 Crimea vote.
If Russia stage-manages the result of a “pseudo-referendum”, it could establish a so-called People’s Republic of Kherson, she said – mimicking the names used by Moscow for Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia recognised those two regions as independent entities days before it invaded and cited fighting with Ukrainian forces there as one of the justifications for its offensive.
The Kremlin claims it is liberating Ukrainian cities from nationalists, Nazis and foreign mercenaries and neutralising threats to Russia. Ukraine and its allies reject these as spurious excuses for a war of aggression.
