Kiev, 8 September 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Ukraine has called on the international community not to recognize the ongoing "illegal elections" in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

"Russia’s sham elections in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void," the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said on Friday. "They will have no legal consequences and will not bring any changes in the international status of Ukrainian territories seized by Russian military forces."

Kiev also demanded that the organizers of the elections as well as the Russian rulers and members of the occupying administrations be brought to justice. New sanctions should also to be imposed on those responsible, the government demanded.

Local and regional elections are being held in Russia until Sunday. In the midst of Russia's full-scale war that has been going on for more than a year and a half, the Kremlin has also scheduled polls in the annexed Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. These ballots, organized by the occupying power, have no international validity.

The results of the sham referendums on the annexation of the four regions last year, which violated international law, were not recognized by other states.

Elections are also being held in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed back in 2014.

Photo: MIA archive