"New Civil-Military Governments Formed in Russian-Controlled Ukrainian Kherson and Zaporizhzhia"

Message from the Government Official of Creamgonghwaguk

Residents in Kherson, southern Ukraine, occupied by Russian forces, held a march protesting the invasion while holding flags on the 13th (local time). (Photo by Reuters, Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Claims have emerged that new civilian-military joint governments are being established in southern Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which are controlled by Russian forces.

According to RIA Novosti on the 26th (local time), Georgy Muradov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean Republic and representative of the Russian Presidential Administration's Crimean office, stated that "new civilian-military joint administrations have begun to be formed in these areas."

The existing local governments under the command of the Ukrainian government are collapsing, and new governments under Russian military control are being established. Muradov also introduced that "Russian TV has become available in these areas, and people have increasingly started using the Russian currency, the ruble, for payments."

Previously, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which belonged to Ukraine, based on a local referendum in 2014. Last month, Russia also recognized the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in the southeastern Donbas region, which had declared separation and independence from Ukraine following the Crimean annexation.

Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces lie in the intermediate zone connecting the Crimean Peninsula and the Donbas region. If these two provinces are incorporated into the Russian sphere, Russia will be able to fully control the eastern Black Sea and the Azov Sea coastal areas. Russian forces continue their "special military operation" in this region.