US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday that the United States and its allies “will never recognize” Russia’s annexation of territories in Ukraine, AFP reports.

“We and many other countries have made it clear. We do not recognize, will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory,” Blinken said at a press conference, when Russia and the authorities of the regions occupied by it in Ukraine said that, according to partial results, more 97% of votes were in favor of joining.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg also wrote on Twitter that “fake referendums organized by Russia have no legitimacy and are a gross violation of international law. These territories are part of Ukraine.”

Preliminary results in the four regions where the referendum on joining Russia was held, RIA Novosti reports:

in Zaporizhzhia region, 98.19% voted “for” (after processing 18% of the votes);

in Donetsk, they voted “for” – 98.27% (20.64% of votes);

in Luhansk they voted “for” – 97.83% (21.11% of votes);

in the Kherson region, 97.63% (27% of votes) voted “for”.

Ukrainian officials have called the trial, which began on Friday, a “propaganda show” and Western officials have said the results will not be recognized.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley condemned the Russian “referendums” in Ukraine, saying that “false results” will not be recognized. Meanwhile, Britain on Monday announced a new package of sanctions over what it called Moscow’s “fake” referendums in four regions of eastern Ukraine to join Russia.