Russian President has recognized the independence of Ukraine"s Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. This emerges from presidential decrees published on Thursday evening, in which Vladimir Putin orders to recognize “the state sovereignty and independence” of the two regions in southern Ukraine.

A ceremony is planned today in Moscow, at which these two regions, as well as Luhansk and Donetsk, are to be annexed.

Moscow had already recognized the independence of the self-declared People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk a few days before the start of the military offensive on February 24. Last Tuesday, multi-day “referendums” ended in the four areas that the Ukrainian government and Western countries have declared illegal.