Sham elections: explosions continue at polling stations in Zaporizhzhia region

On September 9, Ukrainian ‘kamikaze’ drones attacked a Russian "polling station" in the village of Skelky, near Vasylivka.

Military journalist Andrii Tsaplienko reported this on his Telegram channel.

"The Security Service deployed two drones to one of the so-called "electoral precincts" in the Zaporizhzhia region, specifically targeting the occupiers' "electoral" headquarters in the village of Skelky, which is in the Vasylivka district," the message stated.

Tsaplienko mentioned that after the explosions, the occupiers became agitated, blocked nearby streets, checked people, and launched their own drones into the air. However, the "elections" at that "precinct" ended prematurely.

Yesterday, on September 8, there were loud explosions at the Berdyansk Municipal Lyceum.

The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported this.

"The occupiers in Berdyansk are making a big show of their fake elections," he wrote.

It's worth mentioning that two significant explosions occurred at midnight at the Berdyansk Municipal Lyceum. According to Fedorov, one of these "polling stations" was located there, and the military personnel stationed there couldn't help as they were trapped under the debris.

Later, the mayor announced on his Telegram channel that another "polling station" had been destroyed in the town of Polohy, in the Zaporizhzhia region.

"Everything's done at United Russia's headquarters in Polohy! There are rumors that it got damaged while party members from Penza were tampering with the results," noted Ivan Fedorov.

Here's what's known about the "elections" in the temporarily occupied territories

On September 30, 2022, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, relying on the results of the so-called referendum in the temporarily occupied territories, signed "agreements" on the "accession" of the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to Russia.

On October 2, 2022, he submitted a bill to the State Duma on the "'accession' of four regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."

Already on October 5 last year, Putin signed the "laws" on the so-called accession of four regions of Ukraine to Russia. He also appointed Denis Pushilin as "acting head of the DPR" and Leonid Pasichnyk as "acting head of the LPR." Volodymyr Saldo became the "governor" of the Kherson region, and Yevhen Balytskyi was appointed the "governor" of Zaporizhzhia.

The "elections" in those territories were scheduled for September 10, 2023, but preparations for them began much earlier.

On September 4, the National Resistance Center stated that the enemy in the temporarily occupied territories could not find a sufficient number of "public observers" among the locals for the so-called elections, so they invited them from Russia.

Meanwhile, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that among the candidates for representative pseudo-bodies in the temporarily occupied territories are Russian military personnel who participated in the invasion of Ukraine, where they killed and tortured people.

British intelligence predicted the results of the "elections": the United Russia party is likely to win the most votes.  

On September 7, Yuriy Sobolevsky, first deputy chairman of the Kherson regional council, noted that the occupation authorities have already managed to involve 15% of the local population in these "elections"

On September 8, the UN Security Council discussed Russia's attempts to organize local pseudo-elections in the occupied territories. Ukraine called on international partners to impose sanctions against those involved in the sham election process.