Russian President Vladimir Putin after annexing Ukrainian land has signed treaties to make this ‘official’ in the virtual world. Western and Ukrainian officials claim the annexation violates international law. Putin has offered Ukraine an opportunity to talk seven months into the war.
Putin warned Ukrainians Russian authorities would never rescind claims to Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. The two houses of the Russian parliament controlled by the Kremlin have endorsed these treaties next week and then send them to Putin for final approval within the Russian Federation.
Ukrainian officials have dismissed the commentaries by Putin stipulating the future of Ukraine will be decided on the battlefield. Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, stated that continued want to “liberate Ukrainian territories.”
Putin and his lieutenants warned against any Ukrainian offensive in retaking the claimed regions – seeing the actions as acts of aggression. Hints were made with claims of “all means available” to nuclear armament use.
The various claimed regions since 2014 with votes held by Russian authorities are attempts to deter defeats. Russia controls most of Kherson and Luhansk, 6/10ths of Donetsk, and a large portion of the Zaporizhzhia region.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, stated the aim is to “liberate” the Donetsk region. Some analysts warned Putin would dip more into precision weapons to escalate the Russo-Ukrainian war to eliminate Western support for Ukraine. These weapons, according to the Associated Press, are In shorter supply for Russia.
Abbas Gallyamov, former Kremlin speechwriter, stated, “It looks quite pathetic. Ukrainians are doing something, taking steps in the real material world, while the Kremlin is building some kind of a virtual reality, incapable of responding in the real world… People understand that the politics is now on the battlefield… What’s important is who advances and who retreats. In that sense, the Kremlin cannot offer anything сomforting to the Russians.”
Ukrainian in the seven month war has been depriving Russian military forces of complete mastery of the field.
Peskov noted a formalization of Donetsk and Luhansk into the Russian Federation in their entirety. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia have been prepared for annexation. At this point, it’s unknown whether the Russian Federation will declare complete or partial claim to the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
An emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the most recent Russian aggressive strikes. The United States of America and associated allies made promises of sanctions against Russia and billions of dollars in support of Ukraine.
With files from the Associated Press
Photo by Michael Parulava on Unsplash