The pro-Russian military administration ruling the area around the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson said it is preparing to hold a referendum on joining Russia.
"Yes, we are preparing for a referendum - and we will hold it," said the deputy head of Kherson's military and civil administration, Kirill Stremoussov, in a video published on Telegram.
Kherson, he said, should become "a fully-fledged member" of Russia.
The possibility of holding such a referendum in the southern Ukrainian region is not new and previous announcements by the Moscow-imposed administration indicated it could be held in the autumn.
According to reports that emerged on Tuesday, the elected mayor of Kherson, Igor Kolychaev, had been taken into the custody of Russian forces.
Ukraine's government has long expected that such a referendum - modelled on the annexed Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk - could be in the works for Kherson.
Kherson, an important port on the Black Sea, has been fully under Russian control since early March.
