Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that the people of Donbass stand defiant against attempts to intimidate them and strip them of their culture and identity during a video address to the nation on Reunification Day this Saturday.
“Others tried to intimidate them, to take away their right to determine their own future and destiny, to take away what is dear to every person - culture, traditions, mother tongue - everything that was hated by the nationalists and their Western patrons who staged the military coup in Kiev in 2014 and then unleashed a full-scale civil war with terror against dissidents, a blockade, constant shelling and punitive actions in Donbass,” Putin said.
He added that “no one and nothing can break the will of millions of people, their faith in the truth and historical justice."
Referendums on the reunification of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions with the Russian Federation were held on September 23-27, 2022. According to the results in the DPR, 99.23% voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation, 98.42% in the LPR, 87.05% in the Kherson region, and 93.11% in the Zaporozhye region.
On September 30 that year, Putin delivered a speech in the Kremlin after which he signed agreements with the region's heads on their admission into Russia.