VLADIMIR Putin's sham referendum results have claimed 96percent of voters want four Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia – raising fears the tyrant could use nukes if attacks on those regions continue.
The hoax votes have taken place over five days in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Western officials have slammed the vote, which has seen Putin's goons take ballot boxes from house to house in what's being called an illegitimate election.
Reports have also emerged of armed soldiers marching residents to polling stations and asking how they will vote.
If the results – which are set to be finalised in the coming days – come back in favour of a Russian annexation, that could allow Putin to claim Russian territory was under attack and launch nukes in response.
It would also allow the blood-hungry dictator to send conscripts to the front line, which is currently illegal under Russian law.
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Putin said last week that he was willing to "use all the means at our disposal" to uphold the "territorial integrity" of Russia.
State-run RIA news said initial counts showed farcical levels of support for joining Russia.
The news agency, known as the Kremlin's mouthpiece, claimed that 96.97percent of people in Kherson region voted in favour of joining Russia, based on 14percent of the count.
It claims that in Zaporizhzhia – a stronghold pro-Ukrainian support- that 98.19percent have voted in favour.
In the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, around 98percent of voters cast their ballots in favour of being swallowed up by Moscow, with just 14percent of the vote tallied.
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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the EU to slap further sanctions on Moscow as punishment for staging the votes, which Kyiv said will make no difference to how it responds on the battlefield.
Kyiv also said it would not engage in peace talks if any annexation of Ukrainian territory goes ahead and said any citizens helping Russia hold the vote would face treason charges.
The referenda were hurriedly called this month after Ukraine seized swatches of land in a blitzkrieg counter-offensive in northeastern Kharkiv region.
The West and Ukraine claims the votes are a sham because hundreds of thousands of locals have already fled and because Russia is hurriedly trying to claim sovereignty of regions it barely controls militarily.
Russian deployed a similar tactic when it seized Crimea in 2014 and claimed 97percent of people voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
Valentina Matviyenko, a senior Russian politician, said that if the vote results went in Moscow's favour, Russia's parliament could move to incorporate the four regions on October 4 – three days before Mad Vlad's 70th birthday.
That would allow Putin to order his 300,000 new conscripts on the frontline, which are not legally to fight outside of Russia.
It would also allow him to invoke Russia's military doctrine that allows the use of nukes of it's territory is 'attacked'.
It comes as Dmitry Medvedev – a former president of Russia – gave the chilling warning in the wake of the Putin’s TV rant in which he threatened the West with nuclear weapons.
He said If the territories joined Russia then they will be entitled to protection from Russian nuclear weapons, said Medvedev.
“Any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, could be used for such protection,” he said, possibly referring to hypersonic missiles.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said “there is no going back” when it comes to the referendums.
"The Donbas republics and other territories will be accepted into Russia,” he said.
Known as Putin's "yes man", 56-year-old Medvedev was previously seen as more moderate than the Russian leader, although he has taken an increasingly hard line in recent years.
Since the war began to turn against Putin, fears have been raised he could order the use of tactical nuclear weapons, which are designed for use on the battlefield rather than destroying cities.
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While smaller in explosive power than strategic nuclear weapons, they are nevertheless capable of inflicting devastating losses on an enemy.
Battlefield nuclear weapons are generally carried in bombs, artillery shells and smaller missiles.
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