Voters in four Russian-occupied provinces of southern and eastern Ukraine overwhelmingly agreed to their regions joining Russia in referendums regarded as sham plebiscites by Kyiv and its western partners.
The ballots showed support in Luhansk at 98 per cent, Zaporizhzhia at 93 per cent and Kherson at 87 per cent after a full count, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported. In Donetsk, it was 95 per cent in favour with just over half the votes counted.
The hastily arranged voting took place over five days, with election officials, security forces and Russian soldiers going from house to house to ensure residents took part. Ukrainian officials denounced the exercise as voting under the barrel of a gun and reported instances of men being threatened with detention if they did not participate.