Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed treaties to formally incorporate four Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia – at a grand ceremony in the Kremlin. The ceremony followed discredited referendums in the Russian-occupied regions, which have been slammed as a "sham" by the international community.
"This is the will of millions of people," said Putin in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries in the St George's Hall of the Kremlin. "People living in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region are becoming our compatriots forever."
