Local Electoral Commissions: Referenda in Kherson, Zaporozhye, DPR & LPR Recognized as Valid

According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots, 98.42% (over 1.6 million people) of the inhabitants of the Lugansk People's Republic voted for joining Russia,Elena Kravchenko, chairwoman of the republic's electoral commission, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

The head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik said upon declaring the results that intimidation by nationalists and shelling by Ukraine could not prevent the referendum from taking place. He added that he is "proud" of his fellow citizens, and that the result is "a victory for us," given that the breakaway republic has been striving toward this goal for "a long eight years."

"We deserve it, and we have reached it," Pasechnik stressed.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring Donbass republic of Donetsk, based on all of the ballots processed, 99.23% of its residents voted for joining the Russian Federation,according to Vladimir Vysotsky, chairman of the DPR CEC.

The total turnout was 97.51% of all registered voters. A total of 2,133,326 voters took part in the voting.

Vysorsky pointed out that only 0.68% voted against accession to Russia during the five-day referendum. The central electoral commission of the republic declared the referendum valid, as the chairman stated that there were no complaints about irregularities in the referendum at the time of determining the results of the vote.

The republic's head, Denis Pushilin, said that the referendum has officially been held,and it's results are "colossal."

"We have been moving towards this for so long, and here it is - a colossal result. To say that we did not expect such a result would be untrue. I personally believed and continue to believe in Donbass, I believe in our people. We have all wanted this," Pushilin said.

Pushilin added that after the results of the referendum were announced, the agreement would be signed and ratified by the State Duma and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the lower and the upper chambers of the nation's parliament.

In the Kherson region, located just north of the Crimean peninsula, per the local central electoral commission, as 100% of the votes were processed, a total of 87.05% of the inhabitants voted for joining the Russian Federation.

Per Marina Zakharova, chairwoman of the regional electoral commission, a total number of 497,051 participants in the referendum said "Yes" to the question put forward at the referendum: "Are you for the withdrawal of the Kherson region from Ukraine, the formation of an independent state by the Kherson region and its entry into the Russian Federation as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation?"The number far exceeds 50% of the votes required to pass the referendum.

In total, 571,001 people took part in the referendum in the Kherson region, which is 76.86% of the list of voters there. Members of the commission unanimously voted for the recognition of the referendum as valid and approved the voting results.

And in the Zaporozhye region, after processing 100% of the referendum ballots, 93.11% of voters supported reunification with Russia, said the head of the regional electoral committee, Galina Katyushchenko. According to the local CEC, there were also no major violations or any irregularities during the referendum.

Following the referendum, the region de facto withdrew from Ukraine and is waiting for the decision of Moscow on admitting it, the region's head Evgeny Balitsky told reporters on Tuesday evening, adding that the local authorities have already submitted the formal application to the Russian government.

'Welcome Home, to Russia'

Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev claimed in his post on Telegram that the results of the referenda are "clear."

"Welcome home, to Russia!" he wrote.

In turn, the DPR head Pushilin said that in terms of the local authorities' next steps, everything is proceeding according to plan, and the plan is to become part of Russia.

"Of course, we will come to the next legal step. Everything is according to the plan that we drew for ourselves a long time ago - this is the plan to become part of a great country, Russia, as soon as possible," Pushilin said.

Earlier this month, the local public movements addressed the regional authorities with an initiative to immediately hold referendums. According to representatives of the republics and regions, joining Russia will secure their territories and restore historical justice. 

In their opinion, this decision is extremely necessary amid the constant acts of terror by the nationalist authorities of Ukraine and NATO members, who supply Kiev with weapons to kill civilians. 

Russian President Putin said that Moscow will support the decision made by the residents of the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

As for the republics of Donbass, on February 21 this year, Putin announced the recognitionof the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR. He asked the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (Russia's bicameral parliament) to support this decision and then ratify the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with the republics of Donbass.

Back in 2014. when the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted, both the DPR and the LPR held referenda on self-determination on May 11, 2014, amid the military operation launched by the Ukrainian authorities in April of the same year against the Donbass.

96.2% of the referendum participants voted for self-determination of the LPR, while 89.7% voted the same in the DPR. The next day, May 12, 2014, the state sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics was proclaimed.