Russia announced on Monday that President Vladimir Putin's political party was victorious in elections held in four Ukrainian territories the Kremlin illegally annexed last year.
Moscow-installed legislatures in the territories began voting last week, even though Kyiv's military has recently been reclaiming significant portions of land in the regions.
Candidates from Putin's United Russia party won more than 70 percent of the vote in the four regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson—annexed by Russia in September, according to Russia's Central Election Commission. However, detailed voting figures have not been released.
Kyiv and its Western allies have characterized the ballots as a sham and an attempt by Russia to strengthen its hold on the territories.
"We strongly reject this further futile attempt by Russia to legitimize or normalize its illegal military control and attempted annexation of parts of Ukrainian territories," Josep Borrell Fontelles, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a statement.
He went on: "The European Union does not and will not recognise either the holding of these so-called 'elections' or their results. Russia's political leadership and those involved in organising them will face consequences of these illegal actions."
The results of the elections could ultimately prove futile, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's forces continue to gain ground throughout the annexed territories. Along with securing major victories by liberating settlements like Urozhaine in Donetsk and Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv's military reportedly has made advancements recently near Bakhmut (also in Donetsk).
Meanwhile, last November Ukraine retook the capital city of Kherson, although Russia still controls parts of that territory.
The voting in the disputed Ukrainian regions occurred as local elections took place in regions of mainland Russia and Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014. Russian authorities have reported thwarted attempts at disrupting polling sites in the four annexed regions of Ukraine, while there has been a dispute in social media about the legitimacy of the results.
Jason Jay Smart, a political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics, told Newsweek the elections demonstrate that Putin has further problems.
"Despite the Kremlin claiming success in the illegal, sham elections conducted in the temporarily Russian-occupied territories, there are a number of significant signs that things went badly for Moscow," he said.
"Aside from the huge numbers of photos that circulated by people who had written slogans like 'Putin is a criminal' across their ballots, hard-line pro-Russian voices, like Igor Strelkov—who has been jailed—posted a 'poll' on his Telegram that garnered more than 100,000 votes," Smart said.
Strelkov, aka Igor Girkin, was a Russian military commander who is said to have been instrumental in the 2014 invasion of Crimea. Following Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Strelkov became a vocal critic of the Russian president's war strategy and was arrested this summer on charges of inciting extremism.
"Interestingly, only 29 percent [in Strelkov's poll] said they would vote for Putin's United Russia," Smart said. "Twenty-nine percent said they would 'not vote, as it is useless,' 18 percent said they were 'against all' candidates, and 10 percent said they would write Strelkov's name."
He continued, "Why this matters is that Strelkov's target audience is identical to Putin's: One would imagine that Putin's party would have nearly all the votes. Putin's recent assassination of [Wagner Group founder Yevgeny] Prigozhin and arrest of Strelkov have cost him his base's support. Things are becoming increasingly unstable for Putin's Kremlin."
