President Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, a move that finalises the annexation carried out in defiance of international law. Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia.
The formalities followed Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums" in the four regions, rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West. The documents were published on a Russian government website on Wednesday morning.
The move comes as Moscow's war in Ukraine has entered a new, more dangerous phase. Russia faces mounting setbacks on the battlefield, with Ukrainian forces retaking an increasing amount of land in the east and in the south - the same regions Moscow has pushed to annex.
