Joint statement on Russia's sham elections in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories

Joint statement published on 21 September 2026 by the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. It calls the holding of State Duma elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories of Crimea and the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions a gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence and of the UN Charter, describes these sham elections as part of a wider system of occupation backed by coercion and repression, including reported enforced disappearances, detention and torture of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, and says they cannot alter the territories' status under international law. It calls on the international community to reject Russia's attempts to normalise the occupation and for those involved in organising the vote to be held to account.