Russia is planning on holding a "sham referendum" on two eastern Ukrainian regions sometime this month, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said.

Ambassador Michael Carpenter announced at Monday's State Department briefing that there was "highly credible" evidence indicating "that the Kremlin may try to hold a sham referendum to try to add a veneer of democratic electoral legitimacy." He said that this could happen as soon as "mid-May" and that Russia may try the same ploy in Kherson.

The Donbas region is in the eastern part of Ukraine, and there is a significant pro-Russian separatist presence there. Fighting between the two sides has occurred since 2014. Russia is hoping to gain control of the Donbas region and the land territory that connects this region and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

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Russia reoriented its military objectives to focus on the Donbas region after its forces were unable to take over Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, during the first couple of weeks of the invasion.

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday that Russia's military in the Donbas has operated in a "very cautious, very tepid, [and] very uneven" manner while only making "minimal at best" progress.

Carpenter also warned that they have “seen abductions of mayors and other local officials,” as well as having “received reports of enforced disappearances of a range of folks to include school directors, journalists, local activists, [and] municipal officials.”

The United States has repeatedly preemptively disclosed intelligence about potential Russian actions in Ukraine.

Last month, CIA Director William Burns called the moves “unprecedented” and described them as a tactic to “declassify intelligence and use it publicly to preempt the false narratives” uttered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which in essence makes it harder for the Kremlin to "obscure the truth of his unprovoked and vicious aggression," according to ABC News.

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In addition to their warnings ahead of the invasion, the Biden administration has preemptively warned about chemical and biological attacks and repeatedly called out possible Russian false flag operations ahead of their occurrences.

The Russians have claimed that this war is about de-nazifying Ukraine, though the claim is false, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.