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A senior pro-Russian official in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson told Reuters on Saturday that nearby fighting could affect the timing of its formal bid to join Russia and a decision was likely “towards next year.”

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed Kherson Military-Civilian Administration, also said in a video call that the process might involve a referendum, backtracking on previous comments that none would be needed.

Asked about the timetable for joining Russia, he replied: “It won’t happen by autumn. We’re preparing an administrative system and then towards next year we will see what the situation is like.”

Stremousov told Russian state media on May 11 that Kherson, just north of Crimea and the only regional capital that Russia has captured in more than three months of fighting in Ukraine, would ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate it into Russia by the end of 2022. He said at the time: “There will be no referendums.”

In his interview with Reuters, however, he said there could be a vote.

“We’ll announce later when some kind of vote or plebiscite is planned, but it won’t be today and it won’t be tomorrow because our first task is to restore order in the Kherson region,” he said.

Ukrainian and Western intelligence agencies have since March predicted that Moscow would hold a referendum on incorporating Kherson into Russia, as it did after seizing Crimea in 2014.

Russia has said that the fate of the Kherson region is for local residents to decide. Ukraine has pledged to expel Russian forces from all the land they have seized.

A small-time local politician and anti-vaccine video blogger before the arrival of Russian troops, Stremousov, 45, has teamed up with pro-Russian former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Saldo, serving as his deputy in the region’s Russian-appointed government.

Both Stremousov and Saldo are wanted for treason by Ukraine.

— Reuters