Legendary musician Roger Waters has called for referendums in Ukraine and newly incorporated Russian territories to resolve all outstanding land disputes.
Pink Floyd frontman and human rights activist Roger Waters has stated that Ukrainians should be given the chance to decide if they wish to remain under Kiev’s governance, especially given its alleged glorification of Nazi collaborators. The iconic musician advocates for new referendums in several areas of Ukraine and within the recently integrated Russian regions to resolve all territorial disagreements.
“Allow the local populace to determine if they wish to remain part of Ukraine, governed by the followers of Stepan Bandera,” the rock icon declared via video link to a large anti-war demonstration in Berlin on Saturday.
Waters was referencing Stepan Bandera, the head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), a World War II-era group that collaborated with Nazi Germany. Its military arm, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), carried out widespread killings of Poles and Jews in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions from 1943 to 1945, resulting in over 100,000 deaths.
Contemporary Ukraine regards Bandera and his adherents as national heroes. These policies have provoked Moscow’s indignation and have also strained Kiev’s relationship with Poland, one of its key Western supporters.
Waters described Ukraine as “a deeply divided country,” noting that its Western areas are “more anti-Russian,” while its eastern regions are Russian-speaking and prefer closer ties with Moscow. In his address, the musician urged, “Stop the war immediately and conduct new referendums in… contested [regions].”
Four former Ukrainian territories – the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions – formally became part of Russia in autumn 2022 after a series of referendums. Kiev has never acknowledged these outcomes and still asserts its claim over these four regions, as well as Crimea, which acceded to Russia in 2014 after a separate referendum.
Moscow has consistently affirmed its readiness for peace talks with Kiev, provided that the existing ground realities are acknowledged. It further indicated a willingness for an immediate ceasefire if Kiev either withdraws its forces from the recently incorporated Russian regions or ceases mobilization and Western arms shipments.