Russia says it will formally annex 4 Ukrainian regions on Friday, Putin to hold a grandstand ceremony

• Russia said it will hold a ceremony on Friday to mark the annexation of four Ukrainian territories.
• Russia held sham referendums in those regions about becoming part of Russia.

Russia says it will formally sign agreements to annex four regions of eastern Ukraine on Friday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia would hold a signing ceremony at 3 p.m. Moscow time on Friday.

He said that the ceremony would be "on agreements on the accession of new territories into the Russian Federation," Reuters reported.

It is not clear if Russia will formally consider the territories as part of Russia on Friday, or if the ceremony is the beginning of the process.

The Russian president's spokesman told reporters that President Vladimir Putin would make a "substantial speech" during a ceremony signing "treaties" with Russia-appointed occupation officials, state newswire Ria Novosti reported.

The four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — make up 15% of Ukraine's territory, according to Reuters.

Russia-backed officials held referendums in those regions this week and said the results showed that people in those regions want to join Russia.

But Ukraine and the West say the referendums are a sham, and their outcomes are not recognized.

The Telegraph reported that armed soldiers were going door-to-door to collect votes and that they threatened to shoot Ukrainians who didn't take part in the referendums.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the referendums last week as a "sham" and "further escalation in Putin's war."

And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will "never recognise the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia."

He said before Russia's announcement of the ceremony that "We are prepared and we will impose additional severe and swift costs on Russia for proceeding with the annexation."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia could use the annexation to force Ukrainian men in those regions to join Russia's army.

Russia also used a referendum to justify annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Russia still controls the region today.

Ukraine is still fighting to regain control of the four regions.