Russia's Federation Council ratifies annexation
STORY: In a session on Tuesday, the Federation Council unanimously ratified legislation to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following a similar vote in the State Duma, Russia's lower house, yesterday.
The documents now pass back to the Kremlin for President Vladimir Putin's final signature to formally annex the four regions, representing around 18% of Ukraine's internationally-recognised territory.
Despite having passed through Russia's rubber-stamp parliament, the Kremlin is yet to formally designate the borders of the new regions - large parts of which are under the control of Ukraine's forces. As such, it is still unclear where Russia will demarcate its own international borders once the annexation is complete.
