Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that if Moscow holds referendums on joining Russia in occupied areas of his country, there could be no talks with Ukraine or its international allies.

Zelensky said that Ukraine was holding fast to its position of yielding no territory to Russia.

"If the occupiers proceed along the path of pseudo-referendums, they will close for themselves any chance of talks with Ukraine and the free world, which the Russian side will clearly need at some point,” he said on August 7.

Russian troops and Moscow-backed separatists now hold large swaths of territory in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region and in southern areas. Russian-installed officials in both areas have raised the possibility of holding referendums on joining Russia. Some of them were offering residents benefits for taking part.

In 2014, Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula following a disputed referendum that was widely believed to have been falsified, with results showing that nearly 97 percent of voters supported joining Russia.

In eastern Ukraine, the separatists seized chunks of territory in 2014, held independence referendums, and proclaimed "people's republics" in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Moscow recognized the "republics" on the eve of its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian and Ukrainian officials held several sessions of talks in March, but little progress was made, with each side blaming the other for the halt in contact.

(Source: Radio Free Europe)