Putin declares annexation in 4 Ukrainian regions, calls for Kyiv to stop fighting

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday presided over a ceremony to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces, escalating his seven-month war and taking it into an unpredictable new phase.

“This is the will of millions of people,” he said in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries at St. George’s Hall of the Kremlin.

The ceremony took place three days after the completion of hastily staged referendums in which Moscow’s proxies in the occupied regions claimed majorities of up to 99 per cent in favour of joining Russia.

Ukraine and Western governments have described those votes as illegitimate.

Putin also called for Kyiv to stop fighting and “come back to the negotiating table.”

He said that while he wants to see peace talks with Ukraine, the “choice of the people in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson is not up for discussion.”

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