A total of 96.77 per cent of voters in Crimea supported leaving Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. About 1.5 million eligible voters participated in the Crimean referendum and election officials said that 80 per cent of them utilized their right to vote. A delegation of Crimean lawmakers will travel to Moscow on Monday to discuss additional procedures required to become part of the Russian union.

The White House, Western governments and Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, dismissed the result of Crimea's referendum and called it as illegal. The White House in a statement said that the referendum will never be recognized by the United States and the international community

In Crimea, residents began celebrating hours before polls closed. In Sevastopol, cab drivers were spotted with Russian flags.

(AW: Vamshi)