Vladimir Putin will sign treaties today annexing territories in occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin has said, in a major escalation of Russia's seven-month-old war.
The president is expected to sign into law Russia's annexations of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, where it has held fake referendums in order to claim a mandate for the territorial takeovers. Putin has said he is ready to defend those territories using all available means, indicating he would be willing to resort to a nuclear strike to stop Ukraine's efforts to liberate its sovereign territory.
Putin is seen to be passing a point of no return that will prolong the war and scuttle even the remotest chance of negotiations by obliging Russia to fight in perpetuity for Ukrainian territory, some of which it does not currently control.
The signing of "treaties on the accession of territories into the Russian Federation" will take place at 3 pm in the Kremlin, the government spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said.
The news set off a fresh round of international condemnation. "Any decision to proceed with the annexation ... would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned," said Antonio Guterres, the UN's secretary general. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said Russia's votes were a sham and a "futile attempt to mask attempted land grab in Ukraine".
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 30, 2022-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 30, 2022-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Explained: how did the Everton crisis get to this point?
Owner made bold promises but the club have this week had to callin insolvency advisers amid huge debts
Key expects ‘slugfest' as England's batting muscle ripples from top
Amidrising tide of Twenty20 run-rates, the defending champions have opted for more aggression in selection
'Defending democracy' The fears behind EU ultimatum to Meta on fake news
Fears that Vladimir Putin is trying to fill the European parliament with pro-Russia MEPs were behind the EU's blunt message to the Silicon Valley owner of Facebook yesterday. It gave Meta just five days to explain how it will root out fake news, fake websites and stop adverts funded by the Kremlin, or face severe measures.
Whitbread to cut 1,500 jobs and sell 126 restaurants
The Premier Inn owner Whitbread is to cut 1,500 jobs in the UK and shut more than 100 struggling restaurants despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders.
'Poised and calm' The young, fresh face of France's far right
A mid the paté stalls wine-tastings and of a country fair, a young politician hailed as the new face of the French far right was jostled by crowds shouting for photographs and handing him tricolour flags to autograph. \"Rockstar!\" shouted one 18-year-old.
Five skeletons unearthed at home where Goring lived in Nazi base
Amateur archaeologists have found five human skeletons missing their hands and feet under the former home of the Nazi war criminal Hermann Goring at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair military headquarters in present-day Poland.
Trump fined 9,000 for violating gag order and warned of jail time
Donald Trump was fined 9,000 yesterday for nine violations of a gag order designed to protect participants in the former US president’s criminal trial in New York as thejudge warned him faced jail ifhe continued to violate the order.
Student protests Expulsion threat at Columbia campus
Tensions at Columbia University are boiling over since students protesting over the Israel-Hamas war inside Hamilton Hall now face expulsion, a spokesperson said yesterday.
Shh! Intimate Ralph Lauren runway show whispers quiet sophistication
In recent years, the settings for Ralph Lauren's runway shows have become something akin to displays of the designer's power and influence.
Running round a Wall of Death may aid astronauts’ fitness on moon
As humans prepare to return to the moon after an absence of more than half a century, researchers have hit on a radical approach to keeping astronauts fit as they potter around the ball of rock.