MOSCOW, Russia
Russian President Vladimir
Putin has signed laws formally absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia.
The documents finalizing the
annexation, carried out in defiance of international law, were published on a
Russian government Web site Wednesday morning.
Earlier this week, both houses
of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk,
Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. That followed
Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in the four regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy responded to the annexation by announcing a fast-track application to
join NATO and formally ruling out talks with Russia.
Zelenskiy’s decree, released
on Tuesday, declares that holding negotiations with Putin has become impossible
after his decision to take over the four regions of Ukraine.
The head of Zelenskiy’s
office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel shortly after Putin signed
the annexation that “the worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not
worth the paper they are signed on.”
“A collective insane asylum
can continue to live in a fictional world,” he added.
The borders of the territories
Russia is claiming still remain unclear, but the Kremlin has vowed to defend
Russia’s territory — as well as the newly absorbed regions — with any means at
its disposal, including nuclear weapons.
Russia and Ukraine yesterday
gave conflicting assessments of a Ukrainian offensive in the strategic southern
Kherson region — one of the four areas that Russia is annexing.
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