Ukrainian intelligence says it has identified thousands of people involved in organising upcoming "fake" elections in occupied regions.
The elections, scheduled for next month, will help Russia to "legalise its proteges in the occupation authorities... in the temporarily occupied areas of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions", according to Ukraine's SBU.
"The Security Service of Ukraine is conducting a large-scale operation to expose the organisers of pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine," it said.
"As a result of operational measures, the SBU identified more than 3,500 collaborators and their Russian curators involved in the organisation of illegal voting," it said.
It is not clear what the service will do with the information or if it will publish any of the names it says it has gathered.
