Four Ukraine regions prepare to vote on joining Russia

Four areas of  Ukraine are preparing to hold referendums, which are seen as paving the way for the formal annexation of some 15 percent of Ukrainian territory and have been condemned as illegitimate by Kyiv.

Voting in Luhansk and Donetsk, proclaimed “independent republics” controlled by Moscow-backed fighters since 2014, as well as southern Kherson and Zaporizhia provinces will begin on Friday and continue until September 27.

-

 Polling stations opened in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Kamchatka, allowing displaced residents of the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions to cast their ballot in the referendum on accession to Russia.