Russia vows protection to annexed regions

United Nations, September 25

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Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said regions of Ukraine where widely-derided referendums are being held would be under Russia’s “full protection” if annexed by Moscow.

The referendums in four eastern Ukrainian regions, were being staged for a third day on Sunday and the Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days. By incorporating the four areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake these as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies.

Ukraine and its allies have dismissed the referendums as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war and a mobilisation drive by Moscow after recent battlefield losses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would regain all territory Russia had taken. — Reuters