MOSCOW
\nThe upper house of Russia\u2019s parliament has voted to approve the incorporation of four Ukrainian regions into Russia, as Moscow sets about formally annexing territory it seized from Kiev during its seven-month offensive.
\nIn a session on Tuesday, the Federation Council unanimously ratified legislation to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following a similar vote in the State Duma, Russia\u2019s lower house, a day ago.
\nThe documents now pass back to the Kremlin for President Vladimir Putin\u2019s final signature to formally annex the four regions, representing around 18 percent of Ukraine\u2019s internationally recognised territory.
\nRussia declared the annexations after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kiev said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.
\nThe Kremlin is yet to formally designate the borders of the new regions, large parts of which are under the control of Ukraine\u2019s forces. As such, it is still unclear where Russia will demarcate its own international borders once the annexation is complete.
\nOn Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said consultations were ongoing regarding the borders of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
\nRussia does not have full control over any of the four regions.
\nUkraine made more battlefield gains on Monday, taking territory tens of kilometres (miles) behind the previous frontlines in the southern Kherson region, according to reports by Russian-backed officials.
\nMoscow\u2019s forces only control around 60 percent of the Donetsk region and 70 percent of Zaporizhzhia, while recent Ukrainian advances have also pushed the frontlines back into Luhansk, a region which Russian forces claimed full control over in July.
\nAfter reclaiming control of Lyman (a key logistics and transport hub) in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces have pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighbouring Luhansk region as they advance toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis of the combat situation.
\nAs Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensives in the east and the south, Russian forces launched more missile strikes at Ukrainian cities on Tuesday.
\nSeveral missiles hit Ukraine\u2019s second-largest city of Kharkiv, damaging its infrastructure and causing power cuts. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed and at least two others, including a nine-year-old girl, were wounded.
\nIn the south, four civilians were injured when Russian missiles struck the city of Nikopol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW The upper house of Russia\u2019s parliament has voted to approve the incorporation of four Ukrainian regions into Russia, as Moscow sets about formally annexing territory it seized from Kiev during its seven-month offensive. In a session on Tuesday, the Federation Council unanimously ratified legislation to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-287420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n