Putin to sign treaty annexing territories in Ukraine, Kremlin says

The Russian president is expected to sign into law the annexations of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russia held fake referendums over the last week in order to claim a mandate for the territorial claims.

Putin is seen to be passing a point of no return that will prolong the war and scuttle even the remotest chance of negotiations by obliging Russia to fight in perpetuity for Ukrainian territory, some of which it does not currently control.

The territories were not named formally but Kremlin pool reporters said four treaties would be signed, corresponding to the four regions Russia has indicated it plans to annex.

That would mean the Kremlin is obliging the country to fight in perpetuity to defend territories and make advances even while it is on the defensive on the battlefield.

The Kremlin may only reveal the details of which territories it is claiming to annex during the signing ceremony. A state budget revealed on Thursday showed that Russia had earmarked 3.3bn roubles ($56.3m or £51.1m) to rebuild the regions. The damage to the city of Mariupol alone was estimated by its mayor at $14bn.

The annexation will make the chance of a negotiated settlement to end the war even more remote. Russia amended its constitution in 2022 to forbid ceding territory the country has formally annexed.

It was initially seen as a way to prevent a future Russian leader from ceding Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. But the law would also forbid Russia from ceding territories occupied since February or those not currently under Kremlin control.