Voters in Crimea have overwhelmingly backed breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia, paving the way for sanctions by the West which has dismissed the poll as a "sham".
With half the votes counted, results showed more than 95% of voters supported a union with Russia, on a turnout of 83%.
The White House restated its rejection of the referendum in the southern Black Sea region and branded Russia's actions "dangerous and destabilising".
Hinting at additional sanctions, Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the West was ready to "impose additional costs" on Moscow for violating Ukraine's sovereignty.
European diplomats have been drawing up a list of Russian officials who will be hit with travel bans and asset freezes.
The referendum saw a landslide in favour of Crimea joining Russia However, Mr Putin insisted the vote was legal and promised to "respect" the result.
Crimea's regional government will make a formal application to join Russia on Monday, its pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov said on Twitter.
Even before the official results were announced, thousands gathered in the Crimean capital Simferopol, waving Russian and Crimean flags.
People also turned out to celebrate in Sevastopol, where the Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet is based.
The result was expected as ethnic Russians make up 58% of the population Lucia Prokorovna, 60, carrying a giant Russian flag said: "We're free of the occupation. Ukraine was attached to Crimea like a sack of potatoes."
The vote, branded illegal by Kiev and Western powers, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War and threatens to escalate the crisis in Ukraine.
The intervention of Russian military forces in the region, following the ousting as president of Kremlin ally Viktor Yanukovych last month, led to accusations the poll was conducted "at the barrel of a gun".
Moscow justified the occupation of Crimea, saying it wished to protect the majority ethnic Russian population.
The referendum came against a backdrop of unrest in the divided eastern Ukraine, which has seen pro-Russian demonstrations turn violent.
The Ukraine crisis has led to a Cold War-style stand-off Kiev has accused "Kremlin agents" of stoking violence in Russian-speaking cities such as Donetsk and urged people not to be provoked into retaliating because clashes could be used by Moscow as an excuse for further interventions.
Moscow also raised the stakes after Russian forces, backed by helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles, took control of the Ukrainian village of Strelkovoye and a nearby gas plant.
It was the first Russian military move into Ukraine beyond the Crimean peninsula and while the troops returned the village, they kept control of the gas plant.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has vowed to bring the Crimean politicians who called the referendum to justice, warning: "The ground will burn under their feet."
In a statement, the White House said: "In this century, we are long past the days when the international community will stand quietly by while one country forcibly seizes the territory of another."
Foreign Secretary William Hague also said the UK would not recognise the outcome of the vote, condemning it as "a mockery of proper democratic practice".
He argued sanctions were needed to "send a strong signal to Russia that this challenge to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia will bring economic and political consequences".
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