Russians forcing Ukrainian POWs to vote in pseudo-referendum in Donetsk region

In the Donetsk region, the invaders are trying to form a "Cossack battalion" named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky from Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Olenivka penal colony.

According to Ukrinform, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reported this on Telegram.

Kremlin media also reported that 11 servicemen and 23 servicewomen of Ukraine's Armed Forces had allegedly turned to militants with a request to obtain passports of the terrorist organization "DNR."

According to the center, another 57 Ukrainian prisoners of war registered in the Donetsk region were forced to vote in a pseudo-referendum for the region's accession to the Russian Federation.

"In order to give the provocation at least some plausibility, a note was made in the passports of prisoners of war that they were registered in the so-called 'DNR,' which allegedly gave them the right to participate in a sham referendum," the center said.

It added that such steps on the part of the invaders are another manipulation aimed at spreading the Kremlin's narrative in the occupied territories about the alleged large number of "supporters" of the idea of joining the Russian Federation among the captured Ukrainian military.