Russia to annex more of Ukraine on Friday at the Kremlin

KYIV, Ukraine - Russia planned to annex more of Ukraine on Friday in an escalation of the seven-month war that was expected to isolate the Kremlin further, draw more international punishment and bring Ukraine extra military, political and economic support.

The annexation - and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories - would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed "referendums" that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech. Peskov said the regions' pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin's ornate St. George's Hall.

https://www.startribune.com/russia-to-annex-more-of-ukraine-on-friday-at-the-kremlin/600211223/