Authorities in the Ukrainian region of Jerson, under Russian control, have denounced that the military present in the area forces the population to vote several times in the referendum on joining Moscow proposed by the pro-Russian authorities.

The region entered the second day of voting this Saturday in a consultation that Jerson's vice president, Yuri Sobolevski, called on his Telegram account a "theater of the absurd."

"There are 'electoral commissions' accompanied by armed military that roam the region and go to the homes of voters who try by all means to avoid them. Some have already had bad luck twice: they had to fill out the ballot paper and vote a second time," he denounced.

According to the regional authorities, the Russian troops prove that all members of the households have voted, and if not, they force one of them to deposit votes in the ballot box for each of the family members.

The self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the pro-Russian authorities of Jerson and Zaporijia began on Friday a referendum on joining Russia, which will end on Tuesday.

Moscow has already said that it will respect the outcome of the vote, which is not the case with Ukraine and much of the international community, including the United States, NATO, or the European Union.

Crimea's pro-Russian authorities held a referendum on joining Russia in 2014, the result of which legitimized Russian President Vladimir Putin to annex the peninsula to the territory of the Russian Federation.