Moscow, 20 September 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Moscow-backed separatists in three regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya - said on Tuesday they will hold referendums on joining Russia as soon as this week. The separatists have been calling for the polls to be held quickly in light of a counteroffensive by Kiev that has seen Ukrainian troops retake territory in the south and east of the country. The United States and European Union have repeatedly denounced talk of the referendums, calling such votes a "sham" and "illegitimate." Russia similarly annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014. Internationally, the vote was never recognized. This time, too, recognition by the West and Kiev has been completely ruled out. Three regions - Luhansk and Donetsk in the east and Kherson in the south - plan to simultaneously hold a five-day vote from Friday to September 27, the occupation authorities said. Russian occupiers hold about 75% of the territory in Zaporizhzhya, located in the south of Ukraine. The regional capital, which had around 700,000 residents before the war, is still under the control of Ukrainian troops. Vladimir Rogov, the head of the local military administration in Zaporizhzhya, said the referendum will only be held in places controlled by Moscow. He did not give a date for the vote beyond sometime "in the next few days." Russia justified, in large part, its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 by citing the need to "liberate" Donetsk and Luhansk, which make up the Donbass region and are largely Russian-speaking. Shortly before the attack began, Russian President Vladimir Putin had recognized the independence of the two Ukrainian regions. If Moscow were to now embrace the regions as Russian territory, the embattled separatists have suggested it could force Moscow to hit back harder against the resurgent Ukrainian forces. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Tuesday that the referendums would permanently alter the region's political landscape in the Kremlin's favour. "After they are held and the new territories become part of Russia, the geopolitical transformation in the world will take on an irreversible character," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Russia could use "all means of self-protection" after the territories' accession, he added. Initially, the Russian military was able to conquer large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine. But as the war nears the seven-month mark, the Kremlin has suffered stinging defeats, with Russian troops withdrawing almost completely from the north-eastern Kharkiv region after Ukrainian attacks. The new front line that Russian troops have now hastily built along the Oskil and Siversky Donets rivers is also wavering, which could allow the Ukrainians to retake parts of Luhansk as well. The Russian military in Ukraine is suffering from a shortage of personnel. The deployed professional army does not have enough resources for the war, which is still called a "special military operation" in Moscow. However, the Kremlin hopes to mobilize the Russian population domestically - possibly even by declaring martial law or a state of emergency, analysts contend. Russia's parliament on Tuesday fast-tracked legislative changes that could indicate possible preparation for the imposition of martial law. The Duma stipulated that periods of "mobilization" and a "state of war" were particularly prone to crimes. The criminal law was tightened in the second and final reading, according to which the prison sentences for voluntarily becoming prisoners of war and for looting were significantly increased. The Duma also passed a law that would allow foreigners who enlist in the military to become Russian citizens more quickly. Among other things, the penal code was tightened in a second and final reading, according to which, for example, prison sentences for voluntarily entering captivity and for looting will be significantly increased.