Ukraine condemned Russia's plans to hold elections in four occupied regions in Ukraine.

Russia's next election cycle will take place in March 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to lead the country for a fifth term. Elections are anticipated to take place in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions in the south and east of Ukraine, which Putin claims to have annexed last September. The West does not recognize Russia's control of the occupied regions.

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"We call on the international community to resolutely condemn Russia's intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories, and to impose sanctions on those involved in their organization and conduct," Ukraine's foreign ministry's statement read. "Any election in Russia has nothing to do with democracy. They serve only as a tool to keep the Russian regime in power."

Putin traveled to Kherson and Luhansk in April. Kherson was already near Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant last year during the first weeks of its conflict with Ukraine.

It would be the first time residents in these regions would vote in a Russian election. However, Ukrainian's foreign ministry referred to the presidential election as "null and void."

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Should Putin win reelection, he will remain in office until 2030. Putin has been the president of Russia since 2000, stepping down for one term in 2008 when Dmitry Medvedev stepped into office before Putin returned in 2012.

Ukraine is approaching its second year in its conflict with Russia. The United States Senate did not pass another aid bill for Ukraine last week.