After the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, informed his country’s parliament today (Friday) of his plan to annex four districts in Ukraine, he is now announcing the annexation in a speech to the nation.
Watch the live broadcast of Putin’s speech:
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“Citizens of Russia, citizens of Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Donetsk, there is a principle that appears in the UN Constitution: the right to self-determination. Citizens of those regions have a basic right to self-determination. This is our land. The victims of the horrific terrorism of the Ukrainian regime sitting in Kiev paid with their lives for the right of those regions to return to Russia,” Putin began his speech.
After that, Putin officially announced: “These are four regions of Russia. We will not forget those who did not cooperate with the neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime of 2014. In 1991, the leaders of the Communist Party, without asking the people and without conducting a referendum, of their own accord sacrificed The Soviet Union, our great country. The Soviet Union does not exist and we do not aspire to be there either, but there are millions of people who speak the Russian language, they are Russians who long to return to their homeland.”
“This is my message to Kiev and the West, listen carefully: at this moment all the residents of those areas become our citizens. For good. Forever. We call on the Ukrainian regime to immediately stop the aggressive military activity and return to negotiations. Just know: we will not return to the issue of the regions that join sovereign Russia today. This is a fact and Kyiv must respect it,” continued Putin.
Later, a celebratory rally is planned in Red Square, where a huge stage was built on which was written: “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson – Russia”. Putin is also expected to address the crowd there. The Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, told reporters before the speech: “I am in a good mood today.” Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that “from now on any attempt to attack Russia’s sovereign territories will be considered an act of aggression against sovereign Russia. Our response will be accordingly.”
A few hours before the declaration, 23 Ukrainians were killed by a Russian missile attack in the south of the country. In the meantime, while the Russians are preparing for a declaration, the Ukrainian army is making impressive achievements on the ground. Ukrainian forces liberated the town of Shendrigulova in the Donetsk region – one of the separatist regions whose annexation Putin intends to announce.
On behalf of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, it was stated that any attack on the annexed districts will be considered from now on as an attack against Russia. He also added that the goals of Russian warfare have not changed, and that Ukraine has shown no willingness to enter into negotiations, according to him.
Prior to the announcement, Russia held “referendums” in the occupied territories, where the citizens had to decide whether the territories would be annexed to the Russian Federation. As part of the referendum, Moscow is trying to give official validity to the areas under its control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a series of phone calls with world leaders. German Chancellor Olaf Schulz assured Zelensky that his country would never recognize the “fake” referendums as he said, and that it would continue to provide Kiev with military and economic aid. A similar promise was provided by British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who told Zelensky that “Ukraine will be able to count on Britain’s support until President Putin is defeated.”
The Ukrainian residents themselves did not wait for the annexation to be completed. Many of them continue to abandon their homes, hoping to move to territories under Ukrainian control. On the other side, hundreds of thousands of Russians continued to flee for fear of being drafted into the army. Yesterday, the flow of people leaving the country increased, after Russia announced that it would no longer issue passports to those required to be drafted. At the Finnish border, a huge line of cars stretched in a last-minute attempt to cross the border after the Finnish Foreign Minister announced that starting today Finland will close its doors to Russian tourists, while excluding Russian tourists who will enter Finland to visit family, work or study.
The European Union has unveiled a new package of sanctions against Russia. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that as part of the new sanctions, the approval of which requires the support of all 27 member states of the Union, restrictions will be imposed on the import of Russian goods, in a way that will deprive the Kremlin’s coffers of revenues worth 7 billion euros. In addition, the export of additional products to Russia that may serve its military will be prohibited. Among other things, these are electronic components and certain chemical substances.
At the same time as the sanctions, the West promises to continue military aid to Ukraine: the United States announced a new aid package in the amount of 1.1 billion dollars, which will include, among other things, funding for the purchase of 18 advanced rocket launch systems and 12 “Titan” systems to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles.
Ukrainian soldiers in Israel (photo: courtesy of the Ministry of Health)In the meantime, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz visited yesterday at the “Sheba” hospital in Tel Hashomer Ukrainian soldiers who were injured during the fighting and who came to Israel to undergo medical rehabilitation. “It is exciting to meet in Sheva Alexander and Danilo, two Ukrainian soldiers with amputated arms, who will receive full rehabilitation here. Soon we will receive more wounded, and we will also treat children with cancer from Ukraine – all as aid, of course,” Horowitz noted.