Dozens of civilians were killed and injured in a Russian missile attack in southern Ukraine

Putin announces the annexation of 4 Ukrainian regions to Russia

Putin denied Russia's efforts to revive the Soviet Union.

Reuters

Yesterday, during a ceremony in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by his forces to Russia, calling on Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and return to negotiations, and accused the West of being behind "explosions" that led to the gas leak from Nord Stream.

Putin's announcement coincided with the killing and wounding of dozens of civilians in a Russian attack on a motorcade of civilian cars in southern Ukraine.

In detail, the Russian President announced yesterday, during a ceremony in the Kremlin, the annexation of four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by his forces, which escalates his seven-month-old war and enters a new and unpredictable phase.

"This is the will of millions of people," he said in a speech to hundreds of attendees at the St. George's Hall in the Kremlin.

Ukraine and Western governments called the vote spurious and illegal, and took place at gunpoint.

In a speech that was interrupted by applause several times, Putin declared that Russia had "four new regions."

He urged Ukraine to stop military operations and return to the negotiating table.

"We are ready for this," Putin added, while announcing that the Ukrainian regions, occupied by Russian forces, would become part of Russia.

He added that the regions of "Luhansk", "Donetsk", "Zaporegia" and "Kherson" will be merged through "treats" signed with states, which Moscow recognized as independent.

Putin stressed that the citizens of those regions are now "our citizens forever."

He stressed that there would be no negotiations with Ukraine, regarding the annexed areas, citing referendums held in those areas, even if they were widely rejected as illegal.

Putin accused the West of orchestrating explosions that resulted in gas leaks at several locations of the Supply Stream pipelines linking Russia and Europe.

"Sanctions are not enough for Westerners, they have moved to sabotage ... by orchestrating explosions in the international Nord Stream gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea," Putin said.

The Russian president stressed that Moscow "does not seek" the revival of the Soviet Union.

"The Soviet Union is finished," Putin said.

We cannot bring back the past.

Russia no longer needs it.

We do not seek that.”

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with army commanders yesterday, to discuss the line to liberate the Ukrainian lands occupied by Russia.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden condemned Russia's "fraud" announcement yesterday to annex four Ukrainian regions, pointing out that Moscow violates international law.

"The United States condemns Russia's fraudulent attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory," he said in a statement.

Russia is violating international law, tampering with the UN Charter, and showing contempt for peaceful countries wherever they are.”

The White House announced severe sanctions against Russian officials and the defense sector in response to the Kremlin's annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

"The United States will bear a swift and severe price for Russia," the White House said in a statement.

He also announced that the allies within the Group of Seven support that any country that supports Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian regions bear the "price".

In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions was illegal and that the occupied territories would remain part of Ukraine.

"The illegal annexation announced by Putin will not change anything," von der Leyen wrote on Twitter after Russia annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

The UN Security Council will vote on a draft resolution condemning the “referendums” to annex several Ukrainian regions to Russia, according to the French presidency of the council.

On the other hand, dozens of civilians were killed and injured in a Russian attack that targeted a convoy of civilian cars in southern Ukraine yesterday, leaving corpses scattered on the ground.

Officials said the convoy was gathering at a car market on the outskirts of Zaporizhia and preparing to leave Ukraine-controlled territory to visit relatives and deliver supplies to a Russian-occupied region.

"The enemy is savage and seeks revenge for our steadfastness and revenge for its failures," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

At least 23 people were killed and 28 wounded in the attack, which came hours before Putin announced the annexation of Zaporizhia and three other Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, said.

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