DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russia insurgents declared independence Monday for Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions and those in Donetsk even asked to join Russia — a day after they held a vote that Ukraine’s government and the West said violated international law.

The Kremlin urged Ukraine’s interim government in Kiev to hold talks with the separatists but had no immediate response Monday to the annexation request. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the vote’s results showed that residents of the two regions “are entitled to have their own say on the vital issues they face.”