In a televised address, Russian leader Vladimir Putin supported the "spontaneous" decision of separatists in the occupied Ukrainian territories to hold referendums on joining Russia. Putin announced a partial military mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine and threatened that Russia was ready to use nuclear weapons. The Kremlin also announced a mobilization for the Russian military industrial complex.

"Sham referendums have no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter. The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said Brussels would not recognize the results of the referendums. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington unequivocally rejects these referendums.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of imperialism. He described plans for referendums in war-torn territories as a "parody".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has commented that Russian President Vladimir Putin's "imperial ambitions" could lead to devastation in Ukraine and Russia, if Putin did not admit he cannot win the war.