Vladimir Putin signs laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia to finalise annexation

President Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia.

The move finalises the Russian annexation of the regions carried out in defiance of international law.

Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia.

The formalities followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in the four regions, rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West.

The illegal annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory comes as part of Mr Putin’s sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion of Ukraine.

He vowed to protect the newly annexed regions by “all available means”, a nuclear-backed threat at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also railed at the West.

Ukraine’s leader immediately countered with a signing ceremony of his own, releasing a video of him putting pen to papers that he said were a formal Nato membership request.

Mr Putin’s land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s signing of what he said is an “accelerated” Nato membership application sent the two leaders speeding even faster on a collision course that is cranking up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West.

What has Putin said?

The Russian leader has made clear that any prospect of Ukraine joining the world’s largest military alliance is one of the justifications he has cited for his invasion.

In his speech, Mr Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for peace talks but immediately insisted he would not discuss handing back occupied regions, keeping him at odds with the Ukrainian government and its western backers which have rejected his land-grab.

Mr Zelensky said there would be no negotiations with Mr Putin, adding: “We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but… with another president of Russia.”

In a Kremlin ceremony at the ornate St George’s Hall to herald the annexation of the occupied parts of Ukraine, Mr Putin accused the West of fuelling the hostilities as part of what he said is a plan to turn Russia into a “colony” and a “crowd of slaves”.

The European Union responded to Mr Putin’s latest step with a joint statement rejecting and condemning “the illegal annexation” of the four regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The EU’s 27 member states said they will never recognise the illegal referendums that Russia organised “as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Ukraine vowed to continue fighting, and Mr Zelensky announced the “accelerated” Nato application, which requires the unanimous support of the alliance’s members.

He said: “De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine – real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction.

“We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the alliance.”

The Kremlin ceremony came three days after the completion in occupied regions of Moscow-orchestrated “referendums” on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies.

However, Mr Putin insisted in a speech at the ceremony that Ukraine must treat the Kremlin-managed votes “with respect”.

Mr Putin also railed at the West accusing the US and its allies of seeking to destroy Russia, adding that the West acted “as a parasite” and used its financial and technological strength “to rob the entire world”.

He portrayed Russia as being on a historical mission to reclaim its post-Soviet great power status and counter western domination which he said is collapsing.

Russia later vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned the referendums, declared that they have no validity and urged all countries not to recognise the annexation. China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained on the vote in the 15-member council.

Russia now controls most of the Luhansk and Kherson regions, about 60% of Donetsk and a large chunk of Zaporizhzhia, where it took control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

But Mr Zelensky has vowed to keep fighting, saying: “The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy. Russia already knows this. It feels our power.”