Watch Live: Putin Declares Annexation Of Eastern Ukraine

Just ahead of a Friday ceremony declaring the official annexations of the four occupied Ukrainian regions which held controversial referendums, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed two decrees which recognized the “independence” of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. 

“Recognize the state sovereignty and independence” of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions “effective from the day of signing,” the two decrees stated. This paved the way for Friday’s ceremony where he’s expected to give a major speech which will incorporate those two territories plus Donetsk and Luhansk. WATCH Putin’s speech declaring annexation live:

According to Russian state media, “In the documents, Putin refers to the universally recognized principles and norms of international law, and the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, enshrined in the UN Charter.” 

In contrast to this Kremlin perspective, Western officials and media sources are slamming the big ‘land grab’ – which comes at a moment the entirety of these territories are not yet under Russian military control. A White House statement said in response to the “sham” referendums, “The United States will never recognize Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine. Russia’s referenda are a sham – a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter.”

Putin said in a televised meeting with officials on Tuesday as voting closed in the four regions: “Saving people in the territories where this referendum is taking place… is the focus of the attention of our entire society and of the entire country.”

But according to the latest battlefield update from Reuters, which cites pro-Russian officials in the breakaway eastern republics, things aren’t going well on Donetsk amid the ongoing large Ukrainian counteroffensive:

Russian forces in Ukraine were on the verge of one of their worst defeats of the war even as President Vladimir Putin was due to proclaim the annexation of territory seized in his invasion.

The pro-Russian leader of occupied areas in Ukraine’s Donetsk province acknowledged his forces had lost full control of Dobryshev and Yampil villages, leaving Moscow’s main garrison in northern Donetsk half-encircled in the city of Lyman. 

In response to the declared Kremlin annexation of the four territories, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has convened an emergency meeting of top officials on Friday in which “fundamental decisions” will be taken, according to a Ukraine official cited in Reuters.

Preempting likely Ukrainian escalation against the newly absorbed territories, the Kremlin has once again reiterated that “Any strikes targeting the new areas after their accession to Russia will be considered aggression against us,” in a new Friday statement. Putin’s speech is being delivered to a large audience of top officials in Saint George’s Hall at the Grand Kremlin Palace.