These include the referendum on the re-integration of territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the revival of 'Novorossiya' project

Open source

Russia has several plans or scenarios regarding Donbas; they include the referendum on the re-integration of territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as the revival of 'Novorossiya' project. Eduard Matyukha, the Ukrainian reconnaissance officer who worked undercover in the occupied Donbas for five years said so as quoted by TSN.

According to him, he collected signatures for the appeal of residents of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic (DNR and LNR), who exerted their will of independence from Ukraine.

MP of Russia's State Duma Taisan Kazbek Kuchukovich was the first in the Russian Parliament who publicly revealed the so-called appeal of residents of DNR and LNR. There were 20,000 signatures there.

According to Matyukha, the occupants could also go for a referendum about the integration of Donbas with Russia. This would be plan B, which could be brought to life after giving Russian passports to local residents and the census of the local population. The official surmised that this could be another instrument of pressure on the Ukrainian government to make it comply with the Russian version of Minsk agreements or the law on the special status of Donbas.

There's also a plan C, which leads to the military invasion and capture of the Kharkiv region and the Odesa region, and the making of the ground corridor from Russia to the annexed Crimea. Matyukha said that according to the military documents that he acquired, the issue was last time considered in 2018.