The United States will tighten sanctions over russia's attempts to annex the Kherson region.
This was stated by US State Department spokesman Ned Price, reports "Voice of America".
He stressed that the United States were concerned about russia's attempts to "establish institutional control over Ukraine's sovereign territories, especially in the Kherson region."
Price noted that the kremlin was apparently considering several approaches, from recognizing the so-called "people's republics," as russia had already done in Donetsk and Luhansk, to annexing, as russia had done in Crimea. As these scenarios are already known, according to a State Department spokesman, the United States is beginning to sound the alarm.
According to Price, there are numerous reports that in the Kherson region, russian authorities have forcibly removed representatives of the legitimate Ukrainian government and installed their own puppets, who are publicly calling for the region to be included in russia by the end of the year.
"Also, according to many reports, russia is forcing residents of the Kherson region to adopt the ruble instead of the Ukrainian currency," said a spokesman for the State Department.
In addition, russia has taken control of at least 25 radio stations in this part of Ukraine. According to Ned Price, the russians need these powers, above all, to transmit pro-russian media content and "reduce the anti-russian feelings of Ukrainians and resistance to the occupying power."
Based on polls conducted before russia's invasion in February, Price said only 20 percent of Ukrainians in those territories were positive about russia, and that with the onset of aggression, their numbers "are likely to have fallen even more."
"Holding Kherson by force is likely, according to the kremlin, to create a land bridge to Crimea and provide an opportunity to declare victory for its domestic audience and justify the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people whose lives were taken by the war that putin started," Price said.
It will be recalled that the russian invaders plan to hold a pseudo-referendum in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region in 2023.