🗓 On September 30, 2022, following referendums, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions officially became part of the Russian Federation. ✍️ Looking back at #HowItHappened (Signing of the treaties on the accession of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia) In the referendums held on September 23-27, 2022, residents of the four regions made a historic decision that determined their future. International observers from Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Latvia and other countries (133 in total) who monitored the voting recognised the results as legitimate. In 2014, the Kiev regime unleashed full-scale hostilities against the civilian population of Donbass, while neo-Nazis and radicals intimidated and attacked people in Zaporozhye and other regions as well. For eight long years, people endured relentless shelling, terrorist attacks and persecution. Despite shelling and numerous provocations by the Kiev regime, people went to the polls and expressed their will. 🗳 Four years ago, the people voted in favour of joining Russia: • DPR – 99.23%, with a turnout of 97.5%; • LPR – 98.42%, with a turnout of 92.6%; • Zaporozhye Region – 93.11%, with a turnout of 85.4%; • Kherson Region – 87.05%, with a turnout of 76.9%. Behind these figures are the lives of millions of people and their hopes for safety, for the freedom to speak their native language, to honour their ancestors – true heroes of the Great Patriotic War (instead of Hitler’s henchmen) – to preserve their culture and raise their children without fearing for their lives. ❗️ Russia’s position remains unchanged: the people of Donbass and Novorossiya exercised their legitimate right to self-determination, enshrined in the UN Charter, the 1966 International Covenants on Human Rights and the 1975 CSCE Helsinki Final Act. 💬 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address at the General Debate of #UNGA81 (New York, September 26, 2026): Having launched the special military operation in 2022 to protect the people of Donbass and Novorossiya from extermination by the Kiev regime, Russia continues to fight for their security and rights in full accordance with the letter and spirit of the UN Charter. Our struggle for truth and justice will be carried through to the end: the objectives of the special military operation will be achieved, threats to Russia’s security will be eliminated, and peaceful life will be restored. And we will do this #TOGETHER.