Russian-installed official asks Putin to annex Ukrainian regions

STORY: "Taking into account the fact that the population of the republic approved the decision in the referendum, I ask you to consider the issue of Luhansk People's Republic becoming a part of Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation," separatist leader Leonid Pasechnik said.

Russian-installed officials in four occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday (September 27) in favor of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham.

Western countries said the votes were a coercive exercise to provide a pretext for Russia to annex around 15% of Ukrainian territory, and threatened new sanctions against Moscow if annexation plans went ahead.

Vote tallies from complete results on Tuesday in the four provinces ranged from 87% to 99.2% in favor of joining Russia, according to officials.

If Russia declares the four Ukrainian regions part of its territory, Putin could portray any Ukrainian attempt to recapture them as an attack on Russia itself, justifying a potentially harsher military response.

Russia says it intervened in Ukraine in part to protect Russian-speakers living in the eastern Donbas region, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, from persecution.

Kyiv and the West reject this as a baseless pretext for a wider war of aggression.