MOSCOW
\nPresident Vladimir Putin has completed the formal annexation of more than 15 percent of Ukraine, just as Russian forces battle to halt a Ukrainian counter-offensive across swathes of the territories.
\nIn the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century, Putin signed Wednesday laws admitting the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People\u2019s Republic (LNR), Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia.
\n\u201cRussian President Vladimir Putin has signed four federal constitutional laws on the entry of the Donetsk and Luhansk People\u2019s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation,\u201d the lower house of parliament said.
\n\u201cHe also signed the relevant laws on ratification.\u201d
\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 areas that are being annexed are not all under control of Russian forces. Russia\u2019s total claim amounts to around 18 percent of Ukrainian territory, though the exact borders are still to be clarified.
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday his forces were making \u201crapid and powerful\u201d gains in southern Ukraine and that they had retaken \u201cdozens\u201d of villages from Russia this week.
\nSome of the territory was taken back in the regions of Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, he said, where the controversial referendums were held last week on being annexed by Russia.
\nZelenskyy cited eight settlements in the southern Kherson region, where Moscow\u2019s forces have retreated in the face of a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive, according to maps presented by the Russian defence ministry on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin has completed the formal annexation of more than 15 percent of Ukraine, just as Russian forces battle to halt a Ukrainian counter-offensive across swathes of the territories. In the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century, Putin signed Wednesday laws admitting the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic (DPR), the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-287657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n