- Putin will sign the annexation documents on Friday
- You can attend the Red Square victory concert
- Ukraine and the West say the annexation move is illegal
- EU US sanctions below
- Ukraine threatens Russian gains on the battlefield
LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will sign formal documents on Friday proclaiming Russia’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine, as Moscow moves to block territorial claims that the Ukrainian military threatens to reverse -se on the battlefield.
The move, one of the legal steps Russia says will lead to the formal annexation of 15 percent of Ukraine’s territory, confirms that Putin is doubling down on his war against Ukraine even as it has undergone a major military investment this month.
The annexation, following what Kyiv and Western countries say were fake referendums held at gunpoint in Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory, has been rejected internationally as an illegal seizure of war-captured land.
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Washington and the European Union are poised to impose additional sanctions on Russia over the plan, and even some of Russia’s close traditional allies, such as Serbia and Kazakhstan, say they will not recognize the annexation.
The signing ceremony will be held in one of the Kremlin’s largest halls with the pro-Russian figures Moscow considers leaders of Ukraine’s four regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia says the referendums were genuine and show public support for the move.
After days of speculation about how exactly Russia would mark the annexation, Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed some details of the ceremony on Thursday.
Agreements “on the accession of new territories to the Russian Federation” will be signed “with the four territories that held referendums and made the corresponding requests to the Russian side,” Peskov said.
Putin would deliver a major speech on the issue, Peskov said. A huge rock concert was to be held on Friday in Moscow’s Red Square, where a grandstand with giant video screens has already been set up, with billboards proclaiming “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson – Russia!”
Peskov did not say whether Putin would make an appearance at the concert. He did so at a similar event in 2014 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
A view shows banners and constructions for a stage before an expected event, dedicated to the results of referendums on the joining of four self-proclaimed regions of Ukraine to Russia, near St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square in central Moscow , Russia, on September 28. 2022. Banners read: “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson – Russia!” REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
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What Russia is billing as a celebration comes after Moscow has faced its worst setbacks of the war, with its forces defeated in recent weeks in the northeast.
Putin publicly backed the annexation plans in a speech last week in which he also announced the call-up of hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists and threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory if necessary.
Some military experts say Kyiv is on the verge of another major defeat, gradually encircling the city of Lyman, Russia’s main remaining stronghold in the northern part of Donetsk province. Its fall could pave the way for Ukrainian forces to launch attacks on areas of territory that Russia now seeks to annex.
The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament has said the chamber could consider the incorporation of the four regions on October 4, three days before Putin’s 70th birthday.
NUCLEAR PARADISE
Russian government officials have said the four regions will come under Moscow’s nuclear umbrella once they are formally incorporated into Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought to rally international support against the annexation in a series of calls with foreign leaders, including those from Britain, Canada, Germany and Turkey.
“Thank you all for your clear and unequivocal support. Thank you all for understanding our position,” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Tuesday.
The United States has unveiled a $1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine that includes 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, escort munitions, various types of drone systems and radar systems. The announcement raises US security aid to $16.2 billion.
The United States has also said it will impose new sanctions on Russia over the referendums, and the EU is expected to back a new package of sanctions against Russia in the coming days.
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Peter Graff
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