乌克兰顿涅茨克和卢甘斯克州居民开始公投决定是否脱离乌克兰独立。这两个自我标榜的共和国决定同时举办公狗土,尽管基辅表示这不合法。
Residents in Donetsk and Luhansk regions have gone to the polls in referendums on whether they want to remain part of Ukraine.
The two self-proclaimed republics decided to hold the simultaneous referendums though Kiev dismissed them as "illegal." In Donetsk, 3 million ballots have been distributed to eligible voters. More than 1,500 polling stations have been set up.
The two regions have a population of 6.6 million, about 14 percent of Ukraine’s total. They’re following the lead of Crimea, which held its own referendum and joined Russia on March 18th, which was not recognized by the West.