Putin speaks from Moscow on September 30, 2022.
Sky News
Putin announced the formal annexation of four territories of eastern Ukraine on Friday.
In a speech delivered in Moscow, Putin said there are “four new regions of Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that four Ukrainian regions are now part of Russia at a ceremony to formally annex the regions on Friday — a move the United Nations warned would mark a “dangerous escalation” of his invasion.
In a speech in Moscow , Putin said there are “four new regions of Russia.” He said that people in the four territories — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk — “will become Russian citizens forever,” the BBC reported.
After his speech, Putin is expected to sign the annexations into law.
“The people have made their choice … this is the will of millions,” he added, as per the BBC.
Those regions make up around 15% of Ukraine’s remaining territory, excluding the Crimea region that Russia annexed in 2014, Reuters reported.
The ceremony comes after Russia held fake referendums in the regions over the past week to claim a mandate for the territories.
Earlier this week, pro-Moscow officials claimed that all four occupied areas of Ukraine had voted to join Russia.
They said 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, while 87% voted in favor in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region, and 99% in Donetsk, the Associated Press reported.
But the so-called votes have been widely condemned by Ukraine, Russia’s neighboring countries, and the West as a sham.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Insider on Friday that his country will not recognize what he called the “illegal annexation.”
“Estonia and the free world will not recognize this criminal act, this shame,” Reinsalu said.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on Friday: “The United States, I want to be very clear about this, will never, never, never recognize Russia’s claims on Ukraine sovereign territory,” according to the BBC.
Ukraine is still fighting to regain control of the four regions. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that attacks on the areas that Putin annexes would be considered an attack on Russia, The Guardian reported — which means Putin’s move could result in a rapid ramping up of the wer.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss also said the UK would never accept the referendum results and accused Putin of violating international law.
“Putin cannot be allowed to alter international borders using brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war,” Truss said in a statement on Friday, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also warned that his country would react in a “very harsh” way if Russia went ahead with the annexations.
“They [the votes] are worthless and do not change reality,” he said in a statement, as per Reuters. “The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to the recognition of the results by Russia will be very harsh.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the referendums last week as a “sham” and “further escalation in Putin’s war.”