Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign official papers on Friday to annex four more Ukrainian regions following referendums, which Ukraine and the West denounced as fraudulent.
Officials with Russian sponsorship had earlier stated that the five-day referendum in the Moscow-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, as well as southern cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, had virtually 100 percent public support.
Re-enacting Crimea Annexation
The Russian president will deliver a significant address via a ceremony in the Kremlin, according to BBC. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the "pseudo-referendums" were futile and did not alter the course of events.
He remarked that the "territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored" and Kyiv will take drastic measures if Russia formally accepts the voting outcome. There was no independent oversight of the Russian voting process, and armed troops were seen accompanying election workers as they went door to door.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the signing ceremony "on incorporating the new territories into Russia" will be held on Friday in the St.George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Separate agreements will be made with the two Russian-backed separatist leaders in the east and south.
The annexation accords will be legally ratified by Russia's two chambers of parliament next week, as they did with Crimea. On October 4, three days before his 70th birthday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to speak in the upper chamber of parliament.
Officials from the Russian government have said that the four regions will be protected by Moscow's nuclear shield when they become officially part of Russia, per Reuters. Vladimir Putin vowed to use all available methods, including nuclear weapons, to defend what he saw to be Russian territory.
Putin claims that Russian territory is being attacked by Western weaponry by annexing the occupied portions of Ukraine, in the hopes that some states will stop providing military help to Kyiv.
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A Crucial Period in Russian-Ukraine War
Andranik Migranyan, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and former presidential adviser, said Russia needs to take "serious and decisive" actions to retake the "initiative" after a Ukrainian military campaign in Kharkiv this month.
Russia wants the West to cease supplying weapons to Ukraine and persuade Kyiv to accept Moscow's conditions for resolving the crisis, Migranyan noted in an Al Jazeera report.
"Otherwise, Ukraine will cease to exist," the professor added, which will give the West, especially US President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party "massive defeat" before the midterm elections. Moscow had demanded assurances that Ukraine would never enter NATO. But since the Russia Ukraine war started in February, its terms seem less evident.
President Zelensky spoke to CBS News this week, noting that diplomatic talks with Russia would be "difficult" after annexation. In a series of phone contacts with foreign leaders, including those of Britain, Canada, Germany, and Turkey, Zelensky has attempted to mobilize opposition to annexation on a global scale.
"Thank you all for your clear and unequivocal support. Thank you all for understanding our position," Zelensky said in a late-night video address on Tuesday. The US has given Ukraine a $1.1 billion military package that includes 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, ammunition, anti-drone equipment, and radar systems. The measure raises the total amount of US military aid to Ukraine to $16.2 billion.
