The Kremlin announced on Thursday that the four Ukrainian regions that have held referendums on joining Russia – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson – will join the country on Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov also added that Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a ceremony in which the regions will officially become Russian.
Peskov told reporters that the leaders of the four regions, where the referendums ended on Tuesday, will sign the treaties to join Russia during Friday’s ceremony in the Kremlin.
Pro-Russian officials in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia, Kherson and Lugansk regions on Tuesday claimed a “yes” victory to Russian annexation.
According to the electoral authorities installed by Russia in the four regions, 93.11% of the citizens of Zaporizhia voted in favor of annexation to Russia, after counting 100% of the ballots.
In the Kherson region, the Moscow administration reported that 87.05% of voters voted “yes” to annexation, and all votes were also counted.
Shortly after, the authorities of Lugansk and Donbass also announced the victory of the “yes” vote by a large majority.
In 2014, Russia had already used the result of a referendum held under military occupation to legitimize the annexation of Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
Both Ukraine and the West regard referendums as a sham.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Wednesday that the annexation “referendums” organized by Moscow in the Ukrainian regions were “illegal” and the results “manipulated.”
Source: TSF
