Bukumatt Institute

Despite international condemnation, Putin signs decrees declaring four regions of Ukraine part of Russia. The referendum’s results, which have been rejected by much of the international community, showed large majorities of each territory — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — voting to join the Russian Federation. The regions, making up the country’s eastern and southern flanks, form roughly 18% of Ukraine’s territory.