Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled its potential intent of ending the invasion of Ukraine and instead will integrate the Kherson region, based on an intelligence expert's knowledge.
Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "residents of Kherson must decide for themselves" whether or not they will appeal for "integration of the region into the Russian territory."
Russia's Potential End of the War
The official refused to be drawn on the possibility of a referendum, arguing that he had already said what he wanted to say. However, former DIA officer Rebekah Koffler said Moscow was already planning to proceed with a referendum to provide "legal justification" for the country to integrate Kherson.
In a statement, Koffler explained that this was simply standard Russian statecraft and noted that in 2014, 95.5% of Crimean residents voted in support of joining Russia. Does this mean that Putin and Russia are thinking of ending the war in Ukraine?
Koffler, the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America," also believes that integrating Kherson would be enough for Putin to say that he was successful in his current phase of the invasion, as per Fox News.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said that completion of the "special operation" in Ukraine would result in the stopping of the West's attempts to "promote a unipolar world." The official had called the situation an attempt to undermine international law.
The deputy head of the Russian regional military-civilian administration, Kirill Stremousov, also added that by the end of May, a bank for converting money to Russian rubles would start operating in Kherson. The official added that there were no plans to create a separate republic such as those sought in the eastern Donbas region.
According to USA Today, Stremousov also noted that there would be no referendums, saying it would be a decree based on an appeal from the Kherson regional leadership to the Russian president. Peskov said that the decision would ultimately lie on the people of the region, adding that it would be closely evaluated by experts to make sure its legal basis was absolutely clear.
Trials of War Crimes
The situation comes as three Russian prisoners of war accused of targeting or murdering civilians, and a soldier who allegedly killed a man before raping his wife, is set to be placed under the hand of the law. They will be facing the first war crimes trials amid the Russian-Ukraine war.
Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has led her office since the beginning of the invasion and has registered more than 10,700 crimes. A handful of the cases have now been filed or are ready to be submitted in what marks a watershed moment two months after the beginning of the invasion.
A 21-year-old commander of the Kantemirovskaya Tank Division, Vadim Shysimarin, is currently in Ukrainian custody. The individual is expected to be the first to face trial over his alleged murder of a 68-year-old Ukrainian man. The sergeant is believed to have been fighting in the Sumy region in northeast Ukraine when he killed the civilian on Feb. 28, The Guardian reported.
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