On Monday, officials in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk claimed an overwhelming victory in a controversial vote for "self-rule." Boris Litvinov, head of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk Central Election Committee, said that 90 percent of Donetsk voters approved independence. The second region holding an independence vote, Luhansk, is expected to report preliminary results later today.
The voting was reportedly rife with irregularities, and opponents of the plebiscites apparently stayed home. A Pew poll released last week found that 70 percent of eastern Ukrainians want to stay united with the rest of the country.
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