Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
| Part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Russo-Ukrainian War | |
Russian-installed officials at the annexation ceremony in Moscow | |
| Date | 30 September 2022 |
|---|---|
| Location | Southern and Eastern Ukraine |
| Organised by | Russia |
| Outcome |
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On 30 September 2022, Russia, amid an ongoing invasion of Ukraine, unilaterally declared its annexation of areas in and around four Ukrainian oblasts—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. Most of Luhansk Oblast and part of Donetsk Oblast had been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, while the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts were invaded by Russia in 2022. The boundaries of the areas to be annexed and their borders were not defined; Russian officials stated that they would be defined later. None of the oblasts were fully under Russian control at the time of the declaration, nor since. If limited to the areas then under Russian control (about 90,000 km2 or 15% of Ukraine's territory, roughly the size of Portugal) the annexation would still be the largest in Europe since World War II.
The move occurred after internationally unrecognized referendums held days prior, which were organized by Russian occupation authorities in territories where hostilities were ongoing and much of the population had fled. It occurred seven months after the start of the invasion and less than a month after the start of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive. The signing ceremony was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow in the presence of occupation authority heads Leonid Pasechnik, Denis Pushilin, Yevgeny Balitsky and Vladimir Saldo, and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The declared annexation is unrecognized by the international community, with the exception of North Korea and Syria. Ukraine, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations all said that the referendums and the annexation had no legal basis or effect. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response that Ukraine would apply to join NATO on an expedited basis. On 19 October Russia introduced martial law within the annexed and controlled areas, with legislation allowing for bans on public gatherings and other widespread restrictions on personal liberty.
The Ukrainian Kherson and Kharkiv counteroffensives allowed Ukraine to recapture parts of its territory, including Kherson City on 11 November 2022.