Array
Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war. After signing the treaties, the Russian-installed heads of the four regions gathered around Putin, linking hands and joining chants of “Russia! Russia!” with the applauding audience.
Putin later addressed crowds in Moscow’s Red Square, where he vowed to “do everything” to “raise the level of security” in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk. Speaking at a televised patriotic pop concert, the Russian leader said people in the regions had made a choice to rejoin their “historic motherland”. “Welcome home!” he said to the flag-waving crowd.
In a firm rebuttal to Putin’s ceremony in Moscow, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced in a video address in Kyiv that his country was formally applying for fast-track membership of the Nato alliance. Zelenskiy accused Russia of brazenly rewriting history and redrawing borders “using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies”, adding that Ukraine would not hold any peace talks with Russia as long as Putin was president.
The Kremlin said again on Friday that it would consider attacks against any part of its claimed regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as acts of aggression against Russia itself. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia would “de jure” incorporate parts of Ukraine which are not under the control of Russian forces.
