According to Russian news agencies, voting has begun on a referendum on the accession to Russia of 4 regions of Ukraine, namely Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye.

Voting, which began at 5:00 GMT, will run until September 27 in four Russian-controlled regions following the start of the war in Ukraine last February.

During the referendum on the annexation of Donetsk, 450 polling stations were placed on the territory of the Eastern Ukrainian region. More than 200 other polling stations deep in Russia will also open to allow residents of the region who have been evacuated to Russia to vote.

Also in Luhansk, it was decided to open 461 polling stations in the region, in addition to another 201 polling stations in regions within Russia.

In the Zaporozhye region, pro-Russian local authorities have set up 394 polling stations, with another 85 polling stations expected to be located outside the region, namely in Russia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.

As for the Kherson region: local authorities have created 8 regional election commissions and 198 subcommittees, while polling stations will be open for voting both on the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 and in a number of cities in Russia.

According to TASS, more than 1.5 million ballots were printed for voting in the referendum in the Donetsk region.

In the Zaporozhye region, the head of the electoral committee, Galina Katyushenko, said that more than 500,000 people were registered on the voter lists.

In the Kherson region, the Central Election Commission expects about 750,000 voters to take part in the voting.

According to a survey conducted by the Crimean Republican Institute of Political and Social Research, in the Luhansk region, the participation rate is expected to be 87%.

The survey also indicated that the participation rate is expected to be 86% in the Donetsk region and 83% in the Zaporizhia region, compared to 72% in the Kherson region.

According to TASS, ballot papers in Donetsk and Lugansk were printed only in Russian.

He quotes the head of the People’s Assembly of the separatist “Donetsk Republic” Volodymyr Pedevka, who said that since 2020, the constitution of Donetsk stipulates that Russian is only the state language, as well as the language of office work.

In the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, bulletins were printed in Ukrainian and Russian, TASS reports.

Pro-Russian local authorities in four regions declared their desire for “the most transparent and legitimate referendum” and were open to the presence of international observers for the voting, TASS reports.

The agency quotes Elena Kravchenko, head of the Central Election Commission in Lugansk, as saying that the commission is receiving requests from foreign observers “which are under consideration,” but did not specify the countries.

According to Kravchenko, domestic and foreign observers from the public chamber will be present at the polling stations on voting days, as well as outside them.

In turn, the Donetsk Central Election Commission said that it expects the presence of foreign observers, and promised to provide more accurate information after their accreditation.