Attacks on any portion of the territories of Ukraine that Russia is preparing to annexed will be viewed by the Kremlin as acts of aggression against Russia itself, it was announced on Friday.
As part of its plan to annex four areas of Ukraine, Russia, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, would “de jure” merge portions of Ukraine that are not under its control into itself.
Russia is taking steps to annex the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia after staging so-called referendums there.
The ballots, according to Western nations and Kiev, violated international law and were coerced and unrepresentative.
