Putin set to proclaim annexation of seized Ukrainian territory on Friday By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will signal formal paperwork on Friday proclaiming Russia’s annexation of 4 Ukrainian areas, as Moscow rushes to lock in territorial claims that the Ukrainian military is threatening to reverse on the battlefield.

The transfer, one of many authorized steps Russia says will result in formal annexation of 15% of Ukraine’s territory, confirms that Putin is doubling down on his warfare towards Ukraine regardless of struggling a serious army reversal this month.

The annexation, after what Kyiv and Western international locations say have been phoney referendums staged at gunpoint on Russian-held Ukrainian territory, has been rejected internationally as an unlawful seizure of land captured in warfare.

Washington and the European Union are set to impose further sanctions on Russia over the plan, and even a few of Russia’s shut conventional allies, resembling Serbia and Kazakhstan, say they won’t recognise the annexation.

The signing ceremony can be held in one of many Kremlin’s grandest halls with the pro-Russian figures Moscow considers to be leaders of the 4 Ukrainian areas — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia says the referendums have been real and present public assist for the transfer.

After days of hypothesis over precisely how Russia would mark the annexation, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed some particulars of the ceremony on Thursday.

Agreements “on the accession of latest territories into the Russian Federation” can be signed “with all 4 territories that held referendums and made corresponding requests to the Russian aspect,” Peskov mentioned.

Putin would ship a serious speech on the topic, Peskov mentioned. A giant rock live performance could be held on Friday on Moscow’s Pink Sq., the place a tribune with large video screens has already been arrange, with billboards proclaiming “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson – Russia!”

Peskov didn’t say whether or not Putin would make an look on the live performance. He did so at an identical occasion in 2014 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed Ukraine’s Crimea area.

What Russia is billing as a celebration comes after Moscow has confronted its worst setbacks of the warfare, with its forces routed in current weeks within the northeast.

Putin publicly backed the annexation plans in a speech final week during which he additionally introduced the call-up of a whole lot of 1000’s of Russian reservists, and threatened to make use of nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory if crucial.

Some army consultants say Kyiv is poised to ship one other main defeat, steadily encircling the city of Lyman, Russia’s important remaining bastion within the northern a part of Donetsk province. Its fall might open the best way for Ukrainian forces to launch assaults on swathes of territory that Russia now goals to annex.

The pinnacle of the higher home of the Russian parliament has mentioned the chamber might think about the incorporation of the 4 areas on Oct. 4, three days earlier than Putin’s seventieth birthday.

NUCLEAR UMBRELLA

Russian authorities officers have mentioned that the 4 areas will fall beneath Moscow’s nuclear umbrella as soon as they’ve been formally integrated into Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought to rally worldwide assist towards annexation in a collection of calls with overseas leaders, together with these of Britain, Canada, Germany and Turkey.

“Thanks all to your clear and unequivocal assist. Thanks all for understanding our place,” Zelenskiy mentioned in a late-night video tackle on Tuesday.

The US has unveiled a $1.1 billion weapons package deal for Ukraine that features 18 Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, accompanying munitions, numerous varieties of counter drone methods and radar methods. The announcement brings the U.S. safety support to $16.2 billion.

The US has additionally mentioned it would impose new sanctions on Russia for the referendums and the EU is anticipated to again a brand new sanctions package deal towards Russia within the coming days.