Donbass's two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) yesterday held presidential and parliamentary elections, a vote that neither the Ukrainian government nor its Western allies have recognized. DPR Prime Minister Alexandr Zakharchenko got some 75% of the votes, while LPR President Igor Plotnitsky won with nearly 63% of the votes. Parties associated with the two leaders in their respective parliaments achieved majorities.

The two republics' stated goal was to legitimize their leaders via ballot boxes. This is the second major step is to confer legitimacy to both self-styled states: the first one was the self-government referendums that both republics held in May. "Yes" then won with a wide margin.

A delegation of Russian MPs that yesterday monitored elections in Donetsk and Luhansk said the polls were "legitimate" and should be recognized. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced last week that Russia intended to actually recognize both elections as it had done with October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued today a communiqué saying that it "respects the expression will" of Donbass's voters.

The two republics are in control of a part of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. The remaining areas are controlled by Ukraine. Eight days ago, the Ukrainian-controlled zones were able to participate in Ukraine's parliamentary election. Polling stations were not open in DPR- and LPR-held areas.

Under Minsk's framework

The only thing that almost everyone -Russia, Ukraine, DPR, LPR, the EU and the US- agrees on is that any solution to the conflict should go through negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Agreement, which was signed in September. But interpretations on the deal greatly vary.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko yesterday said the elections in the Donbass are "a clear violation" of the Minsk Agreement. The Ukrainian government believes the DPR and LPR should accept Kiev's temporary, three-year autonomy offer, and negotiate the final status of both territories starting from that point. Ukraine's unity is beyond discussion under this paradigm.

Instead, both Donbass's republics argue the Minsk deal should just be a way out of the war, which has so far caused at least 4,000 deaths. The leaders of the self-proclaimed republics insist they will never renounce Donetsk or Luhansk statehood or ties with Russia, and simply offer a "common security space" with Ukraine.