It was a SHAM REFERENDUM! the media screams. Do recall that Zelinskyy declared that if you voted in these "shams" that was to be considered a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. This, of course, has been "memory-holed" all over the Internet -- but was reported at the time. Do remember that the Government of Ukraine has done this before. Specifically, they refused the right of the people to decide in 2014, which was also reported, this after the Ukraine government itself was deposed in a literal coup complete with shooting the people who didn't like the way things were going...