Putin finalizes the annexation of four regions in Ukraine
Sylvie Claire / October 5, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Wednesday the law annexing four Ukrainian regions and the decrees formally appointing the leaders that Moscow had already put in place.
The texts signed by the Russian leader state that the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia are accepted "into the Russian Federation in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Putin, despite an international outcry and military defeats on the ground, annexed these four territories, which the Russian army partly controls, believing that they were rightfully Russia's after so-called referendums were hastily held.
In the aftermath, the Russian army suffered new military setbacks in the northeast of the country and in the Kherson region.