Image Credit: Global Telegraph

The illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine by Russia has been completed with the signature of laws by Russian President Vladimir Putin.


On Wednesday morning, the documents were posted on a website run by the Russian government.

The Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions are now officially a part of Russia thanks to treaties that were ratified earlier this week by both houses of the Russian parliament. The formalities came after "referendums" that were staged by the Kremlin in the four regions, which Ukraine and the West rejected as a fraud.

The action coincides with the beginning of a new, riskier phase in Moscow's war in Ukraine. With Ukrainian forces retaking more and more territory in the east and south, which are the very regions Moscow has pushed to annex, Russia is suffering growing setbacks on the battlefield.

The Kremlin has vowed to defend Russia's territory, including the recently absorbed regions, with any means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, despite the fact that the borders of the territories it is claiming are still unknown.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, announced a fast-track application to join NATO in response to the annexation and formally ruled out talks with Russia. Zelenskyy's decree, issued on Tuesday, states that it is now impossible to negotiate with Putin as a result of his choice.to seize control of Ukraine's four regions.

According to regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba on Telegram, several explosions on the battlefield on Wednesday morning shook Bila Tserkva and set fire to what were described as infrastructure facilities in the city to the south of the capital Kyiv.

According to early reports, so-called "kamikaze" or suicide drones attacked the city, he said.

About 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kiev is Bila Tserkva.

In recent weeks, Russia has used suicide drones more frequently, presenting a fresh threat to Ukrainian defenses. The unmanned aircraft can hover for extended periods of time before launching themselves at their targets and detonating their payload just before impact.

Many of the earlier drone attacks by Iranian-made aircraft took place in the country's south rather than close to the capital, which hasn't been attacked in weeks.

The city, one of the biggest in the area after Kyiv itself, was struck by a total of six Shahed-136 drones, according to a later post by Kuleba. The assaults resulted in one person being hurt.

Hours after the attacks were reported, he said, dozens of rescue personnel were still on the scene putting out fires.

In the meantime, Ukrainian forces kept advancing in the south. The military of Kyiv announced on Wednesday that as part of their extensive counteroffensive they have retaken more villages in the Kherson region.

The Ukrainian flag has been flown over the villages of Liubymivka, Khreschenivka, Zolota Balka, Biliaivka, Ukrainka, Velyka, and Mala Oleksandrivka, according to Operational Command South.