BIG BREAKING: Russia will formally annex four more areas of Ukraine
Vladimir Putin
New Delhi: Russia has said that it will formally annex four more parts of Ukraine. This comes just days after Russia has officially concluded the referendums, which yet remains unrecognized by the West.
In five days of voting in Russian-occupied territories that make up around 15% of Ukrainian territory, armed servicemen had gone door to door with election officials to collect ballots.
Results of the referendum
On Tuesday night, Moscow-installed governments in the four southern and eastern Ukrainian regions stated that 93 percent of votes cast in the Zaporizhia region, 87 percent in Kherson, 98 percent in Luhansk, and 99 percent in Donetsk approved annexation.
As a result of recent military defeats in Kharkiv, in northern Ukraine, the unusually large margins in favor were generally perceived as an attempt by an increasingly trapped Russian leadership to seize territory.
Putin to hold a voluminous speech tomorrow
Kremlin Spokesperson, Dmitriy Peskov said, "Tomorrow at 15:00 agreements on the entry of new territories into Russia will be signed. They will be signed with all 4 territories where referendums were held. Putin will hold "voluminous speech" tomorrow."
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