Officials in two Moscow-occupied districts of southern Ukraine declared victory in a referendum on a union with Russia on Tuesday, despite worldwide criticism of a fake vote.
After all the votes were tabulated, the local polling organization in the southern Zaporizhzhia area reported that 93.11 percent of voters supported Russian annexation.
But it noted that this was only a preliminary finding.
Authorities in Kherson, another southern city where voting took place, reported that 87.05 percent of voters supported Russian annexation.
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91.2 percent of the ballots in the pro-Russian separatist-controlled portion of eastern Lugansk were counted, and the majority of voters there supported annexation by Russia, according to local officials.
According to the head of the self-declared Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, it is “certain” that Lugansk will rejoin Russia.
As for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” inside “recognized” boundaries, the UN said that it was “committed” to this.