KYIV, Ukraine—Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws formally absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia.
The documents finalizing the annexation were published on a Russian government website on Wednesday morning.
Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. That followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in the four regions that Ukraine and the West have rejected as a sham.
On the ground, Moscow’s war in Ukraine has entered a new, more dangerous phase.
The borders of the territories Russia is claiming still remain unclear, but the Kremlin has vowed to defend Russia’s territory—the newly absorbed regions too—with any means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons….