2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine cause Russian invasion of Ukraine
Possible consequences
The referendums have resulted in annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts of Ukraine by Russia.On 22 September, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that any weapons in Moscow's arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to protect territories annexed to Russia from Ukraine. He also said that referendums organized by Russia-installed and separatist authorities would take place in large swathes of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and that there was "no turning back". Medvedev said that Donbas republics and other territories "will be accepted into Russia" and mobilisation will also be used to protect the annexed territories. Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev warned that after the referendums, "protecting people in this region will not be our right, but our duty. An attack on people and territories will be an attack on Russia. With all the consequences." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rule out the use of nuclear weapons to defend annexed Ukrainian territories.Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of occupied Melitopol, stated that the main reason for the pseudo-referendum in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast is to conscript local men into military service for Russia, just as was the case in the "people's republics" of the Donbas region during the mobilization in Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics on 19 February 2022.Some estimates suggest that reconstruction of the war-torn annexed territories would cost Russia between $100 and $200 billion. The reconstruction of Mariupol alone will likely cost more than $14 billion.