Russia to formally annex four regions of Ukraine today

Kyiv: Russia on Friday will formally annex occupied parts of Ukraine where it held Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums" in which it claimed that residents had voted overwhelmingly to live under Moscow's rule. The Ukrainian government and the West have denounced the ballots as illegal, forced and rigged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony Friday in the Kremlin when four regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - will be officially folded into Russia, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Peskov said the pro-Moscow administrators of those regions will sign treaties to join Russia during the ceremony at the Kremlin's St. George's Hall. The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up on Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation in Ukraine.


The Kremlin's announcement was met with swift rejection from European officials.

"It's absolutely unacceptable," said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. "We reject such one-sided annexation based on a fully falsified process with no legitimacy."

Lipavsky described the pro-Russia referendums as "theatre play" and insisted the regions remain "Ukrainian territory."

Other officials who denounced Russia on Thursday over the "sham" votes included the prime ministers of Italy and Denmark and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

"Under threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint, people are being taken out of their homes or workplaces to vote in glass ballot boxes," she said at a conference in Berlin.