WASHINGTON: Russia has commenced concrete planning to hold referenda in many cities in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine in an attempt to draw them closer to Moscow, a senior US official said.

According to a senior member of the National Security Council, Russia intends to stage such referendums in Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, the separatist areas of Luhansk and Donetsk, and portions of Kharkiv. He said  that the "Russian leadership has urged officials to start preparing to organise these referenda."

"officials are interviewing potential administrators of these territories as Russia gets ready for the referendums. And that these changes might occur as soon as in the upcoming weeks." the official said adding that the US expected that Russia would rig the outcomes of these referendums to give the impression that the Ukrainian people desire to join Russia.

If the Kremlin claims the Ukrainian people want to join Russia, he added it would be crucial to uncover and refute this misinformation.

US intelligence said, Russian officials thinks  that the referendums won't accurately reflect the public's will since they anticipate poor turnout.

Referenda cannot be held before Russia fully controls the Donetsk region, according to pro-Russian authorities in the separatist Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Just over half of the region is currently under Russian control.

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