MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – People in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv are demoralized but they do not lose hope of holding a vote on the status of the region, an anti-Maidan activist Konstantin Dolgov said Thursday.
The Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in eastern Ukraine declared themselves sovereign states on Monday, following May 11 referendums on self-determination. Donetsk is planning to ask Moscow to join Russia and the Luhansk leadership has not ruled out the possibility of a referendum on becoming part of Russia.
Federalization supporters in Kharkiv refused to hold the referendum on May 11.
“Of course, people are demoralized. People in Kharkiv know that practically all the leaders are behind bars,” Dolgov told Rossiya 24 TV channel, adding however that chances remain that the vote will be held despite these events.
“I will make every effort so that the referendum in Kharkiv takes place and there is no shooting in the streets,” Dolgov said.
Following weeks of the so-called Maidan mass rallies, Ukraine underwent a regime change in February when the Ukrainian parliament backed by far-right movements ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the country’s constitution and scheduled early elections for May 25.
The citizens of the predominantly Russian-speaking southeastern regions of Ukraine refused to recognize the legitimacy of the country’s interim government and called for federalization and referendums on greater autonomy, with rallies sweeping through the region. In response, the Kiev regime launched a special operation against federalists.
Moscow has repeatedly called on Kiev to realize that while conducting a special operation to crack down on federalization supporters, who disagree with the February coup, Ukraine’s security forces are fighting not against “terrorists” but their own people.
