BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed formal documents to annex the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
This he did on Friday, along with Russian-appointed leaders of the four sieged territories after he announced the annexation, as he also called for a ceasefire and negotiations.
Once the process is officially complete, Moscow will recognise the four Ukrainian regions as Russian territory.
Kremlin’s move to annex the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine is seen by Ukrainian allies, as a blatant violation of international law.
Luhansk and Donetsk are home to two Russian-backed breakaway republics where fighting has been ongoing since 2014, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, two areas in southern Ukraine that have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began.
The annexation announcement followed referendums in the regions that were universally dismissed as “a sham” by Ukraine and Western nations.
Pro-Russian authorities in those regions predictably claimed this week that residents had overwhelmingly supported becoming part of Russia.
Reports from the ground suggested that voting took place essentially – and in some cases, literally – at gunpoint.
Despite the widespread international condemnation, Russia is forging ahead with its plans to fly its flag over some 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) of Ukrainian territory.
This is the largest forcible annexation of land in Europe since 1945.
