The Russian Parliament begins the process of approving the annexations, violating international law
Members of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, attend a session to approve the laws of annexation to Russia of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Jerson, Luhansk and Zaporiyia, in Moscow, Russia, on 3 October. (Photo: Russian State Duma/Archyde.com)
The Russian legislature on Monday began the process of approving President Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex four parts of Ukraine in violation of international law, a move that comes as the Ukrainian military continues to liberate cities previously occupied by Russian forces.
The procedure is expected to be a formality, although it will take a couple of days. Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature, and the space for political dissent in Russia has shrunk in recent years.
The lower house, the State Duma, voted unanimously on Monday to approve the annexation, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. The upper house, the Federation Council, is scheduled to hold meetings on the issue on Tuesday, TASS reported.
But the maneuvers inside the ornate halls of the Kremlin stand in stark contrast to the facts on the ground on the detritus-strewn battlefields of eastern Ukraine.
The situation on the ground: Russian forces have suffered a series of stunning defeats in eastern Ukraine, forcing them to withdraw and abandon various positions in areas the Kremlin is annexing. Pro-Russian propagandists and bloggers have been unusually critical of the war effort in recent days, as Ukrainian forces fall in city after city.
A leading pro-government Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, said Russian forces had to withdraw into the strategically important town of Lyman because they were understaffed and poorly communicated, and commanding officers made “mistakes” there.
Now much of the territory that Moscow claims as its own in the Donetsk region is under the control of Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday the country had recaptured Lyman, while the Ukrainian military said it had recaptured the nearby villages of Drobysheve and Torske, putting Kyiv in a better position as it seeks to recapture the region of Ukraine. Luhansk.