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Coincides with Kremlin’s messages - Zelensky on Witkoff’s statement on "referendums" in Ukraine’s TOT

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that US Special Representative Steve Witkoff's statement about the "referendums" organized by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine coincides with the Kremlin's narratives.

He said this at a briefing, Censor.NET reports citing RBC-Ukraine.

The President was asked to comment on Witkoff's statement.

"You know my attitude. I believe that there are big disadvantages and advantages to this topic. Unfortunately, there is a lot of information disseminated by certain people and the person you mentioned (Vitkoff - ed.). His messages, unfortunately, very much coincide with those of the official Kremlin," Zelenskyy said.

He reminded that similar statements about "referendums" have been made many times before.

"We all know that there were no real legal grounds for holding referendums. Second, no one can legitimize these referendums because they were held at gunpoint. Thirdly, there are dead souls and plenty of evidence of who voted and who did not vote. Everyone knows that there were no legitimate referendums, and no one in the world recognizes them," the head of state said.

Zelenskyy emphasized that this is a Russian message, and "there are some high-level voices in the United States that are spreading this information that these lands were once Russian."

Also, according to the president, Vitkoff communicated too much with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Vitkoff's statements about "referendums"

Earlier, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said that the biggest issue in this war is "the so-called four regions: Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk, and two more. These territories are Russian-speaking, and referendums were held there, where the majority of people voted in favor of being under Russian rule."

Witkoff later clarified his statement about the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and the "referendums" held there.

Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation and a member of the Servant of the People party, said that Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, should be dismissed from his post. His statements about "referendums" in the occupied territories are "shameful and shocking."

The European Commission emphasized that the so-called "referendums" held by Russia in the occupied territory of Ukraine were completely falsified and "at gunpoint."