Moscow:
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said early on Saturday that residents of Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine expressed their desire to become part of Russia in recent local elections, confirming referendums last year that Western countries denounced as illegal.
In a video speech released to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s controversial announcement that it was annexing four parts of Ukraine, Putin said the choice to join Russia was reinforced by this month’s local elections, in which officials returned who supported Russia’s annexation.
“Just like a year ago, during the historic referenda, people once again expressed and confirmed their will to join Russia and supported their compatriots who, through their commitment and real actions, proved worthy of the people’s trust,” said him in a video just now. spent more than four minutes at midnight.
Putin reiterated his position that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 saved people from nationalist leaders in Kiev who had unleashed “full civil war” and “terror against those who think differently.”
On September 30, 2022, parts of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – were formally incorporated into Russia following referenda that Moscow said it voted overwhelmingly in favor of.
Western countries have dismissed the outcomes as pointless and illegal annexation, underpinned by massive voter coercion.
Russian forces do not fully control any of the regions.
Ukrainian forces, aided by Western weapons, resisted the first Russian attempts to advance on Kiev and the war shifted to Russian-held areas in the east and south. Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive in June to recapture those areas.
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