REUTERS

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Dmytro Hutsuliak, says Russian occupation forces are stepping up measures to force the local population in Donbas to participate in the illegal elections scheduled for November 11.

"Russian occupation administrations in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions are stepping up measures to covertly force the local population to vote in the so-called November 11 elections," the official told a briefing on October 16, referring to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.

"In particular, the occupiers have instructed the heads of budget organizations that the latter will bear personal responsibility for ensuring maximum participation of 'civil servants and staff of enterprises' in elections. Social workers in the occupied territories are spreading information that pensioners could be deprived of retirement benefits if they fail to come to the polls," the spokesman said.

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"At the same time, the number of those fearing the intensification of hostilities is growing in cities and densely populated areas of the temporarily occupied territories. They don't want to tarnish themselves by participating in yet another so-called 'electoral process' imposed by the occupiers. Since early October, the number of residents, including those involved in the activities of the Russian occupation regime, who are fleeing the temporarily occupied territories, has been growing as well," the official said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the so-called "early elections of the chairman of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic" ("LPR") and "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") and the so-called "members of parliament" were scheduled for November 11.

On September 7, First Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko said that Moscow was consciously escalating the situation in Donbas, announcing "elections" and at the same time eliminating its "minions." The European Union and the United States say that the announcement of "elections" in the "LPR" and "DPR" is a violation of Minsk agreements.

Today, October 16, Ukraine will demand in Minsk to cancel the preparation for the fake elections in the occupied territories of Donbas.