Yahoo TV

STORY: Russian-installed officials in Ukraine's Donetsk region declared victory late Tuesday (September 27), after the results of a hasty vote there pointed towards joining Russia.

Donetsk is one of four occupied regions of Ukraine where five days of voting has taken place.

So-called referendums - that Kyiv and the West have denounced as 'shams'.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia wasn't even trying to hide it.

"This farce in the occupied territories cannot even be called an imitation of a referendum. What would be proclaimed as results were known beforehand. Even the intelligence community didn't have to put too much effort into it. The agreed-upon figures for this farce were leaked to the media. Russia is blatant about it."

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said they were planning to introduce a resolution to the body in the coming days.

"So, we are putting forward a resolution, with Albania, that condemns the sham referenda, calls on all states to not recognize any altered status of Ukraine and obligates Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine immediately."

Russia's ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia however dismissed the accusations and said the referendums were conducted transparently and in line with electoral norms.

"More than 100 independent international observers observed it from 40 countries. They actively put their opinions in the media, and they were particularly surprised by the enthusiasm of the people and how enthusiastic they were about the referendum and how long they had awaited to hear this. Unfortunately, you won't hear this."

The regions that stand to be annexed, Donetsk and Luhansk in the east as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south, make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory altogether.

Kyiv says it will press on with plans to retake all territory occupied by invading forces.

One senior Russian official said annexation could come as early as next week.

If Russia annexes the four Ukrainian regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin could portray any Ukrainian attempt to recapture them as an attack on Russia itself.

He might also make good on recent threats to use nuclear weapons to defend what he calls the 'territorial integrity' of Russia.