Russia says Ukrainian provinces vote to join

The results of referendums in Eastern Ukraine are in. In the Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, between 87 percent and 98 percent of votes supported joining Russia. In Luhansk, annexation received 98 percent of the votes. Ninety-nine percent voted for annexation in Donetsk. Western governments maintain that the referendums are not legitimate but rather attempts by Russia to justify its invasion. On Wednesday morning, Russian-installed officials said they would ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russia, but wasn’t immediately clear how the administrative process would unfold. 

What is going on inside Russia? The governments of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Finland have said that a combined 194,000 people have left Russia to come to their countries. Many of them are trying to avoid military conscription ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

Dig deeper: Read Jill Nelson’s report in WORLD magazine about the quest to hold Russia accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.