Putin claims readiness to negotiate with Kyiv amid annexation of occupied territories
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Putin’s statement came amid the formally announced annexation of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Putin called on Ukraine to "immediately stop hostilities and return to the negotiating table".
At the same time, the Russian leader stated that Moscow would not discuss the status of four Ukrainian oblasts, the "annexation" of which he had mentioned earlier.
Oddly enough, the dictator's speech comes at a time when the operation to surround the Russian grouping near Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, is "at the stage of completion". The Ukrainian Armed Forces have taken all the approaches to the strategic city under fire control. Taking Lyman will allow Ukraine to advance on the city of Donetsk itself – which has been controlled by the Donetsk puppet authority since 2014.
From Sept. 23 to 27, the Russian invaders staged sham "referendums" in the occupied parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts. None of these regions are fully controlled by Russia.
Ukraine and the vast majority of Western countries have declared that the Kremlin-imposed results would not be acknowledged. President VolodymyrZelenskyy also noted that the holding of a vote and an attempt to annex Ukrainian territories would not affect the process of their liberation through the efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russian propagandists claimed on Sept. 27 that over or nearly 90% of the population in Ukraine’s occupied territories had “voted” for annexation to Russia. Numbers of 98.42% were invented for Luhansk Oblast, 93.11% for Zaporizhzhya Oblast, 87.05% for Kherson Oblast, and 99.23% for Donetsk Oblast.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
