Russia is with us!' Putin told his country's political elite, who had gathered in one of the Kremlin's grandest halls to watch him sign the annexation documents. 'They have made a choice to be with their people, their motherland, to live with its fate, and to triumph with it.

The four Ukrainian regions that he said Russia was absorbing had made an historic choice, he said. In one of his toughest anti-American speeches in more than two decades in power, Putin signalled he was ready to continue what he called a battle for a 'greater historical Russia', slammed the West as neo-colonial and as out to destroy his country, and without evidence accused Washington and its allies of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines. It comes as Russian forces in one of the four regions being annexed face being encircled by Ukrainian troops after Putin ordered a massive mobilisation drive to get hundreds of thousands of Russian men to the front. The Russian president's proclamation of Russian rule over 15 percent of Ukraine - the biggest annexation in Europe since World War II - was roundly rejected by Western countries, with the United States and Britain announcing new sanctions. Photo: Alexander Nemenov / AFPĪ defiant Vladimir Putin has proclaimed Russia's annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony, promising Moscow would triumph in its 'special military operation' against Kyiv even as some of his troops faced potential defeat. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen set at Red Square in central Moscow as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine that Russian troops occupy - Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Sham69 if the kids are united