Ukraine war: Russia claims win in occupied Ukraine 'sham' referendums (2022)
www.bbc.com

... Moscow-installed officials in the regions are now claiming almost total support among those who took part in the disputed votes on joining Russia.

The polls were denounced as a sham by Ukraine's government and its allies.

In the absence of international recognition, the process was not monitored independently.

The votes were held in the breakaway eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ballots in Russian-occupied parts of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were also organised.

Refugees scattered across Russia were also able to vote at dozens of polling stations, including in Crimea, a southern Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Partial results from voting there indicated huge majorities in favour of joining Russia.

Up to four million people were asked to vote in the war-torn regions, which make up about 15% of Ukraine's territory.

- - - Soldiers go door-to-door for votes in 'referendums'

- - - Final day of discredited polls in Russian-held Ukraine

News agencies run by the pro-Kremlin administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk are reporting that up to 99.23% of people voted in favour of joining Russia - a high percentage that would be unusual in a vote of this nature. ...

2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine
en.wikipedia.org

... In late September 2022, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed officials in Ukraine staged so-called referendums on the annexation of occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia.[1][2][3][4]

They were widely described as sham referendums by commentators and denounced by various countries. The validity of the results of the referendums has only been accepted by North Korea. ...

The votes were conducted in four areas of Ukraine " the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, and the Russian-appointed military administrations of Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, captured and occupied in the first week of the 2022 invasion[5][6] -- as well as in Russia.[1]

At the time of the referendums, Russia did not fully control any of the four regions, where military hostilities were ongoing. Much of the population had fled since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7] The referendums were illegal under international law and have been condemned by the United Nations as violations of the United Nations Charter.[8][9] ...

Under the conditions of Russian military occupation and complete dominance of Russian media, the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine were promised the inclusion of these regions into Russia, as with Crimea. As the director of the Donetsk Institute for Social Research and Political Analysis suggested in 2014, it had been decided to refuse accession referendums due to low support for joining Russia: 35% supported it, while 65% saw themselves as part of Ukraine.[11]

In Russia, a 2015 poll by the Levada Center showed that 19% of polled Russians wanted eastern Ukraine to become part of Russia.[12] In March 2021, 25% of polled Russians supported the annexation of the Donbas separatist republics to Russia.[13] ...