Russia Triggers Plan to Formally Annex Occupied Ukrainian Regions

Vehicles drive past advertising boards, including panels displaying pro-Russian slogans, on a street in Luhansk, Ukraine, on Sept. 20, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

KYIV—Russian-installed leaders in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions set out plans for referendums on joining Russia this week.

In the apparently coordinated move, Russian-backed officials announced planned referendums for Sept. 23–27 in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15 percent of Ukrainian territory or an area about the size of Hungary.