Council of the Russian Federation ratifies annexation of Ukrainian territories

Russia’s upper house of parliament voted on Tuesday to approve the incorporation of four Ukrainian regions into Russia as Moscow prepares to formally annex the territory it occupied from Kiev during its seven-month conflict.

In a session on Tuesday, the Federation Council unanimously ratified legislation to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, following a similar vote in the Duma, Russia’s lower house, yesterday.

The documents now return to the Kremlin for President Vladimir Putin’s final signature to formally annex the four regions, which represent about 18% of internationally recognized Ukrainian territory.

Russia declared the annexations after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kiev said the votes violated international law and were coercive and unrepresentative.

Despite having passed the Russian parliament, the Kremlin has yet to formally designate the borders of the new regions – much of which are under the control of Ukrainian forces. As such, it remains unclear where Russia will demarcate its own international borders once the annexation is complete.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that consultations were under way on the borders of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Russia does not have full control over any of the four regions.

Ukraine made more battlefield gains on Monday, taking territory tens of kilometers behind previous front lines in the southern Kherson region, according to reports from Russian-based officials.

Meanwhile, its forces only control about 60% of the Donetsk region and 70% of Zaporizhzhia, while recent Ukrainian advances have also pushed the front lines back into Luhansk, a region over which Russian forces claimed full control in July. .