Kremlin says Putin will sign treaties to annex Ukrainian regions

The move, in defiance of stern international warnings including from President Biden, potentially slams the door on diplomacy for years to come and almost certainly assures further escalation of the war in Ukraine. Kyiv insists it will fight to reclaim all of its lands, and Western allies are promising to send more weapons and economic assistance.

Putin’s recent declaration of a partial military mobilization, intended to activate hundreds of thousands of reinforcements for deployment to Ukraine, and the sabotage this week of two Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea have raised fears that the Russian leader is preparing for a long hybrid conflict with NATO.

Russia has also warned that it could use a nuclear weapon to defend the Ukrainian regions once they are absorbed into Russia, on grounds that it would view an attack on its forces there as an attack on Russian territory. Similarly, Putin could use such attacks to declare martial law, putting Russia’s economy and society fully on a war footing.

Putin’s land grab, which is a blatant violation of international law, will further isolate Russia, triggering new Western sanctions. But Putin nonetheless appears to hope that a long, brutal war will eventually fray Western support for Ukraine and curtail military and economic aid that is providing a…