Eva Karene Bartlett@EvaKBartlett
Sep 23, 2022
9 tweets
Voting started in Donetsk. A few hours ago I went to Kalinskiy district where voting started at 8:30. Pretty straight forward: people show their ID, write their home address, get a ballot & cast their yes/no, behind a shield for their privacy, put the ballot in a sealed container
I went to Kievskiy after, a region Ukraine bombs heavily on a near-daily basis. People I spoke with were very clear that they want to join Russia, they spoke of Ukraine’s 8 years of bombing them, and feel joining Russia will offer them protection, improve their lives all around.
Of course, western pundits have already decided this is this is "sham" referendum, but the people here don't care what the west says. The west arms Ukraine, which is is raining bombs down on Donetsk and other cities. Yesterday's Ukrainian bombing killed 6 civilians,...
...Ukrainian shelling killed 16 people Monday, 4 people Saturday...and thousands over the past 8 years.
Enough is enough, the people are voting and don't be surprised if the results are for the DPR to join Russia.
I'm still driving around, in a taxi with another journalist, talking to more citizens. Will upload interviews and footage from around Donetsk when I get home and have time.
I've now additionally visited Kievskiy & Kirovskiy districts, seeing local residents volunteering to go around from door to door, with the paperwork & ballots, to enable people to vote from home rather than going out to centre when Ukraine could shell.
The groups I've seen doing this were women, by the way, putting themselves at potential risk (if Ukraine shells) for the sake of ensuring the referendum happens. They could've stayed home in relative safety, but didn't. A driver in Kirovsky volunteered to take the women from...
...the school where they work to the apartments they are visiting to enable people to vote. He refused to take any money.
Everyone I've spoken to is adamant about joining Russia.
Still on the road and it looks like will be all day, so won't be able to post videos until tonight
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