The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on Thursday, September 29, will discuss bills on the accession to Russia of four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops, where so-called referendums are held, which in Moscow the submission should become the legal basis for their annexation, Reuters reports after the agency reported TASS with reference to an unspecified source.

After the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian troops currently control a little more than half of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions and almost all of Luhansk and Kherson regions, writes Agerpres.

The counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army, which has liberated thousands of square kilometers in recent weeks, especially in the northeastern province of Kharkiv, hastened Russia’s decision to hold these so-called referendums, called last month by pro-Russian separatist leaders from four provinces. .

After the annexation of these provinces, even if no country recognizes such a change of borders, in the eyes of the Kremlin, a Ukrainian attack on them will be equivalent to an attack on Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a decree on the mobilization of 300,000 reservists to strengthen his troops in Ukraine. He accused the West of forcing Kyiv to end negotiations with Moscow and supplying arms to Ukrainian forces, and now trying to encourage Ukraine to push military operations into Russian territory because “the West’s goal is to weaken, divide and destroy.” Russia”.