“The people will determine the future of the Zaporizhzhia region. The referendum is scheduled for this year,” the official, Vladimir Rogov, was quoted by TASS as saying, giving no further details about the timing.

Around 60% of the region is under Russian control, part of a swathe of southern Ukraine that Moscow seized early in the war, including most of neighbouring Kherson province where Russian-installed officials have also discussed plans for a referendum.

Rogov said the administration would draw up plans for how to proceed with a referendum even if Russia could not gain control over the entire region. Zaporizhzhia city, the main urban centre, is still held by Ukraine.

The region was home to around 1.6 million people before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Bids to incorporate Kherson or Zaporizhzhia into Russia would contradict President Vladimir Putin’s assertion at the start of the invasion that Moscow had no plan to occupy Ukrainian territory.

“The overwhelming number of residents of our region want to quickly to return to their native harbour and become part of big Russia,” RIA news agency quoted Rogov as saying.

The Kremlin has said it is for people living in the regions to decide their future.

Ukraine says any referendums held under Russian occupation would be illegal and their results fraudulent. Moscow and its proxies carried out referendums in 2014 in Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed, and parts of two eastern provinces which declared independence.

Rogov also said the first shipments of grain would depart from the Berdyansk port on the Sea of Azov later this week, TASS reported.

Ukraine says any such shipments from occupied ports would amount to illegal looting. A blockade of exports from Ukraine – one of the world’s largest grain exporters – has driven up global prices and triggered fears of a worldwide food crisis. The Kremlin blames Kyiv and Western sanctions for the situation.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Peter Graff)