DISINFO: Most people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region identify as Russians
SUMMARY
Most people in Zaporizhzhya, where a referendum on joining Russia is set to take place, identify as Russians. But the region’s inhabitants were basically told that they are Ukrainians, and then they were issued Ukrainian passports. Nobody asked for their opinion. And so all these people were deprived of [Russian] citizenship.
RESPONSE
The claim advances recurring pro-Kremlin narratives falsely painting Ukraine as perennially mired in ethnic strife, and heavily exaggerating the number of Russians and/or Russian speakers in the country.
It so happens that the residents of Zaporizhzhya were indeed asked about their national identity - this was done as part of the most recent nationwide census conducted in Ukraine. In Zaporizhzhya Oblast, 70.8% identified themselves as Ukrainian, and only 24.7% as Russian.
The so-called "referenda" which Russia plans to conduct on the Ukrainian territories it currently occupies have no legal force. The EU High Representative Josep Borrell has already condemned the move, stating that the EU would not recognise it. “These illegal ‘votes’ cannot be considered under any circumstance as the free expression of the will of the people living in these regions under constant Russian military threat and intimidation,” Borrell said in a statement.
See further debunking by POLYGRAPH.info and The Insider (in Russian).