Foreign observers assessed the course of voting in the cities of Torez and Yenakiyevo of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on September 26. Alexander Safiulin, a correspondent for the Izvestia TV channel, spoke to them.
He noted that foreign observers record everything that happens on cameras and communicate with local residents, asking them whether they really want the republic to become part of Russia.
“We are now in a situation of a military operation, so we need to adapt the election system. But I had a good conversation with the residents of Donbass, I see that they are very open. I asked them what they voted for. Everyone said that they were for Russia, that they were Russians, that they had been waiting for this for so long, ”said the French observer Xavier Moreau.
He understands that due to Ukrainian saboteurs and the bombing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the authorities were forced to hold a referendum using mobile polling stations, and not at stationary points.
Izvestia correspondent Alexander Safiulin also talked to local residents. One of the women said that for eight years she had been supporting the union of the republic and Russia.
“We dreamed, back in 2014 we said our word that we are with Russia. <...> Finally, this separation has come to an end. We are happy! We’re glad!” she said.
Referendums in the DPR, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions on joining Russia will end on September 27.
On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would support the decision that the majority of the inhabitants of these regions would take.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. The decision was made against the backdrop of the aggravated situation in the region due to increased shelling by Ukrainian troops.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel
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