*"Do you support the Act of National Independence of the Donetsk (Lugansk) People’s Republic?"
* The options were simply "Yes" or "No."

"My friends from Avdeevka called and offered me the position of deputy chairwoman at a polling station. It was terrifying—who knew if the station might be attacked? We were unarmed. Complete outlaws, as Kiev kept reminding us. We met at the executive committee. Some guys came to protect us. Their only weapons were twisted office furniture legs. They suggested we put wet wipes on ourselves so that if someone released gas, we could cover our faces. But even then, we hoped everything would work out—that Donbas would become part of Russia. People kept coming. Singing, carrying flowers, joyful. It was an avalanche! By 10 a.m., we had to close the doors and let people in groups of ten or fifteen. There was an old veteran—they brought him in by the arms, wearing medals and a white jacket. He almost burst into tears: 'Finally, I've lived to see this. Count me in.'"

"An old woman started snatching our ballots and shouting, 'What are you doing here! Avdeevka and Donbass are Ukraine! I won’t allow this.' I recommended she vote 'no.' That crazy old woman symbolized how insane, ridiculous, evil, and helpless Ukraine seemed to us at the time. And yet, not a single person voted 'no.' People kept coming. It was a family celebration. Families came and voted. Back then, people believed that in a week, after this referendum, there would be another one on reunification with Russia."

"More than three million ballots were printed for the referendum in the DPR. 89.7 percent of residents voted for independence, while 10.19 percent voted against. Turnout was 74.9 percent. In the LPR, where 1.6 million voters were registered, turnout was 75 percent, and 96.2 percent supported the act of state independence, while 3.8 percent opposed it."

"We were very naive back then, not yet beaten down by life. Everyone said: 'We just have to be patient,'" stresses Yulia Andrienko, a volunteer who helped organize the referendum.

"For more than eight years, the people of Donbass waited for the next referendum—on reunification with Russia [which took place in September 2022]. We had worked toward it for so many years, but it never became something we took for granted.

There was joy, though. Under no circumstances could Donbass return to Ukraine. In 2014, maybe it could have happened if they had granted us autonomous status with broad powers. But the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass cities changed everything. Even former pro-Ukrainian supporters rejected the idea of going back to Ukraine. I was sure we would reunite with Russia, althourh ir won’t be easy.

But you know what else is offensive? Hearing that we’re to blame for the escalation of the conflict—that because of us, people are dying on the battlefield, that we started it all with our referendum. As if it were that simple.

They would have attacked anyway. They would have crushed us and kept going. Their goal was never just Donbass or Ukraine. It was Russia. And it still is.

Unfortunately, not everyone realizes that. But they will someday. I just hope they don’t have to learn it through the kind of trials we went through."