Kremlin prepares for annexation ceremony and wants to capture entire Donetsk Oblast

OLENA ROSHCHINA — FRIDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2022, 13:55

The Russian army will try to capture the entire Donetsk Oblast, and the Kremlin will consider Ukraine’s counterattacks in the occupied territories after the official annexation scheduled for 30 September as a direct attack on the Russian Federation.

Source: statements made by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia, quoted by [Russian state-owned news outlet] RIA Novosti

Details: Peskov stated that Russia had recognised the "independence of the DPR and LPR" [self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics] within their borders of 2014, and within these borders, the "republics of Donbas" would become part of Russia.

When asked what would be done with the Kyiv-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, Peskov replied that "it will have to be liberated" because the Russian Federation "includes the state recognised by us within the limits of 2014" [there was and is no state there – ed.].

According to Peskov, Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts "will become an integral part and sovereign territory of the Russian Federation".

When asked whether Russia would consider an attack on these territories by Ukraine as an act of aggression against Russia with a proper response or something else, Peskov replied: "It will be nothing else."

On Friday, 30 September, the "ceremonial signing of the agreements on the accession of four new territories to Russia" is being held at St. George's Hall in the Kremlin; Vladimir Putin is to participate in it. The day before, Putin signed decrees recognising Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as independent territories.

Quote from Peskov: "There will be an address, a speech by the President of the Russian Federation – I repeat once again, a voluminous speech – and then there will be a signing ceremony.

The head of the [self-proclaimed] Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, the head of the [self-proclaimed] LPR Leonid Pasechnik, the [Russian-appointed] head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Yevhen Balytskyi, and the [Russian-appointed] head of the Kherson Oblast Volodymyr Saldo will take part in the document signing ceremony.

Four agreements on the accession of the new entities to the Russian Federation will be signed."

Details: Peskov also said that the presidents of Russia and Belarus had discussed the so-called "referendums" that were illegally held in the occupied territories of Ukraine during their meeting in Sochi on Monday.

Peskov said that Vladimir Putin had informed Aleksandr Lukashenko in detail about "how the referendums were held, about the mood in these areas."

The Kremlin claims that the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts will be incorporated into the union state, as regions of the Russian Federation.

Previously: The Kremlin planned "a ceremonial signing of the agreements on the accession of new territories to Russia" for 30 September. The event, in which Vladimir Putin took part, began at 15:00 Kyiv time, and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation had been invited to the Presidential Administration.

Background:

• In early September, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russian forces had been ordered to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk Oblast by 15 September. But they did not succeed; on the contrary, the Ukrainians launched a counteroffensive and liberated most of Kharkiv Oblast.

• On 23-27 September, the occupiers hastily held sham "referendums" on the accession of the occupied territories of Southern and Eastern Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The results were as follows: in Donetsk Oblast, supposedly 99.23% of voters supported unification with Russia; in Luhansk Oblast, the number was 98.42%; in Kherson Oblast, 87.05%, and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the number of people who supported unification with Russia totalled 93.11%.

• Sociologists have demonstrated that even if referendums had actually taken place, the results would have been far from what the Kremlin dreamed of.

• Neither Ukraine nor the democratic world recognises the sham referendums, just as it happened when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

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