Ha ha ha no.
 
The pro-Russian militants that had taken over some government buildings said they were holding a referendum on independence.
 
Gee, I wonder how that turned out.
 
Of course they reported that a majority voted for their side, but that’s completely unverifiable and it has all the legal force of the Confederacy seceding from the U.S. – i.e., none, not recognized by Ukraine nor by any other nation in the world, and certainly not changing anything on the ground. In fact it has approximately all the legal force of me seceding my house from the U.S.
 
Russia’s not annexing eastern Ukraine. Its game is for Kiev to devolve some autonomy so that it can influence the east more without having to actually pay for governing it.
 
There will be a national election on May 25th. It will go off in eastern Ukraine as well, especially Donetsk, Mariupol and the rest of the major cities. If it doesn’t, I will come back to this post and publically eat my words.

@mathprofbrony  
They recently became independent and I think one was the one that asked to join the Russian Federation.

Huh? Last I heard Donetsk was actually settling down, especially with the steelworkers patrolling the streets.

if we had heard none of this would be happening, then say goodbye to Donetsk and Lugansk that are now independent.

gives Ukraine some gas flow
 
Stay strong, Ukraine! We like you much better than we do Russia!