Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed treaties to illegally annex parts of Ukraine, while Kyiv has submitted an “accelerated” application to join NATO
From left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic wave during a ceremony to sign the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia, at the Kremlin, Moscow, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
Putin has repeatedly made clear that any prospect of Ukraine joining the military alliance is one of his red lines and cited it as a justification for his invasion, now in its eighth month, in Europe's biggest land war since World War II. Global leaders, including those from the Group of Seven leading economies, responded with an avalanche of condemnation. The U.S. and the U.K. announcedU.S. President Joe Biden said of Putin's annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions: “Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called it “the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.” “The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy," he said. “Russia already knows this. It feels our power." As the ceremony concluded, the Moscow-installed leaders of the occupied regions gathered around Putin, linked hands and chanted “Russia! Russia!” with the audience.
Moscow has backed eastern Ukraine's separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions since they declared independence in 2014, weeks after Russia's annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Russia captured the southern Kherson region and part of neighboring Zaporizhzhia soon after Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Russia controls most of the Luhansk and Kherson regions, about 60% of the Donetsk region and a large chunk of the Zaporizhzhia region, where it seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
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