Donetsk Asks to Join Russia After Referendum to Leave Ukraine
The self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk formally asked to be annexed by Russia on Monday after a referendum in which it claimed people voted overwhelmingly in favor of breaking away from Ukraine.
Pro-Russian separatists who oversaw Sunday’s referendum said the vast majority of people in the Donetsk and Luhansk voted to recognize their regions as sovereign entities separate from the capital Kyiv.
“We ask the Russian Federation to consider the issue of annexation of Donetsk People’s Republic to the Russian Federation,” said a statement to reporters by the republic’s co-chairman Denis Pushilin.