Over 96% said to favor joining Russia in first vote results from occupied Ukraine regions
RIA said the initial counts showed majorities ranging from 96.97% in the Kherson region, based on 14% of votes counted, to 98.19% in Zaporizhzhia, based on 18% of the count.
Members of an electoral commission wait for voters near a destroyed residential building on the third day of a referendum on the joining of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to Russia, in Mariupol, Ukraine(photo credit: REUTERS)ByREUTERSUpdated: