TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. In the world lead, some new CNN polling casts doubt on the eagerness of the people of eastern Ukraine to join the Russian Federation. Only 37 percent of people surveyed in three major eastern Ukrainian regions favor an alliance with Vladimir Putin. So, is it possible -- and I'm just throwing this out there -- that pro-Russia separatists may have been exaggerating when they claimed 90 percent of people in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region voted in favor of seceding. Our Atika Shubert was in the area for the referendum vote. Atika, it seems to many that this voted had a foregone conclusion.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I don't anyone is surprise by these official results from the referendum. Nearly 90 percent in favor of independence, but they are certainly a lot of people questioning the validity of the referendum. We were at a polling station yesterday where we saw numerous examples of voting regularities, several of them were caught on camera -- people voting twice, or putting multiple ballots, you know? So, a lot of people asking whether or not it even matters, these kinds of numbers. Kiev is saying that they reject the referendum, they reject the results, but the Donetsk People's Republic has used it to declare officially independence from Ukraine and appeal to Russia to become a part of the Russian Federation. So they are clearly looking to Moscow for an answer. In the meantime, Kiev says the only way forward is through a general election on May 25th. And that's something that the pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic says it will not participate in. So, in the meantime, a growing standoff here on the streets of eastern Ukraine. People are worried that there could be even more violence and lawlessness as they move forward to that election date -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Atika Shubert, thank you so much. Coming up in the world, they took hundreds of girls hostage. Now, they want to negotiate. But should the Nigerian government play ball with terrorists? A dangerous situation in that African nation. That's coming up.
Is Ukrainian Secession Vote Valid?