from The Epoch Times:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that regions of Ukraine where referendums are being held will be under the Kremlin’s “full protection” if they are annexed by Russia, raising the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons.

Residents of four Russian-occupied areas in eastern and southern Ukraine continued voting on whether to join Russia.

“Following those referendums, Russia of course will respect the expression of the will of those people who for many long years have been suffering from the abuses of the neo-Nazi regime,” Lavrov told reporters on Sept. 24 after addressing the United Nations General Assembly. He was referring to the Kyiv government.