Authorities in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine that held so-called referendums say that all votes have now been counted and each saw a huge majority in favor of joining Russia.
The head of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on his Telegram channel that 99.23% of votes cast were for "joining the Donetsk People's Republic to the Russian Federation.”
Elena Kravchenko, the head of the election commission of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), said 98.42% of voters cast their ballots in favor of the motion.
As CNN previously reported, in Kherson, the Telegram channel of the pro-Russian administration said that with all votes counted, 87.05% were in favor of joining Russia.
In Zaporizhzhia, the head of the election commission said the final tally was 93.11% in favor.
The referendums -- announced at short notice by pro-Russian authorities in the four regions -- were widely condemned by Western governments as a sham and against international law. They were not observed by independent monitors.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the referendum process was a “sham” that showed Russia’s “contempt for all those who have been calling for diplomacy”.
Ukrainian officials say that turnout has been extremely low and claimed that people had been bussed in from Crimea to vote.