Putin made a bold move today. He’s now annexed back four key parts of Ukraine. Which would have people assuming that Russian troops have full control over those areas, correct? Wrong.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to declare his annexation of Zaporizhzhia and three other regions stretching across southeastern Ukraine, here in the regional capital, Ukrainian flags still fluttered above government buildings on Thursday, and Ukrainian officials still scurried through the halls.

Despite the Kremlin’s announcement that Putin would sign “accession treaties” at a ceremony in Moscow at 3 p.m. on Friday, the 10,000-square-mile province of Zaporizhzhia is neither under full Russian military nor under full administrative control of Russia’s proxies.

Ukraine still holds roughly a quarter of the region, including Zaporizhzhia, the capital city, located on the Dnieper River in the northwest corner. The regional administration is paying salaries, including in occupied cities.

Just last week we wrote about Putin deciding he needed to conscript more troops. Men from ages 18-65 were on the hook for being forced back into military service and headed to the front lines with little time to prepare or train. Which led to many trying to flee the country. 

Putin’s grand announcement today is concerning on many levels. First, it is obvious that it was a command performance. Secondly, as noted above, territories have been annexed that Russia doesn’t control with any certainty. 

Screen shot via CNN news report

As many are pointing out, including Laughing Wolf here, it’s worth watching Putin himself during the speech and paying close attention to the reactions and body language of those in attendance. 

I’ll say this for Putin, he’s been watching and does have his finger on the pulse of the West, particularly the United States. He’s not wrong here. 

Russian President Putin:

– We're witnessing sheer satanism in West
– Do we want our children to be offered operations on sex changes? It's unacceptable!
– Our future is different. We're fighting for a great, historic Russia pic.twitter.com/BzkDAuRLbl

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) September 30, 2022

The entire transgender craze sweeping the West is damaging more than just the individual lives, it IS damaging the West culturally on multiple levels. HOWEVER, does that mean the Western world wants to enslave Russia? That’s one helluva stretch by Putin. Especially when it was his move to arbitrarily annex Crimea and now annex four parts of Ukraine? 

As he issued his sham referendum annexing areas in Ukraine and embarked on a diatribe describing the West as the new Great Satan, something was happening IN Ukraine that doesn’t bode well for Putin or the Russian military.

It is being reported via multiple sources that Russian troops in the Lyman area are surrounded by Ukrainian troops.

Another Russian milblogger stated that Ukrainian troops are attacking Lyman from three directions and have cut Russian access to the critical Svatove-Lyman road, which is the major ground line of communication (GLOC) sustaining the Russian grouping within Lyman itself.[16] Several milbloggers stated that the fall of Lyman to Ukrainian troops is imminent without the immediate reinforcement of Russian forces.[17] The Ukrainian General Staff reported earlier in the day on September 29 that seven tanks crewed by newly mobilized and low-skilled personnel deployed to the Lyman area without proper fire training for tank weapons and got into a road accident.[18] It is highly unlikely that any deployment of additional, newly mobilized, forces to Lyman will afford the existing Russian grouping significant defensive capabilities and prevent Ukrainian troops from collapsing the Lyman pocket. 

Putin’s grand gesture today involved the signing of the so-called annexation and announcing the four new proxy leaders of those ‘territories.’ 

At a ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, attended by senior political and military officials, members of parliament and even Russian war bloggers, Putin on Friday signed so-called accession treaties to absorb the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Patriotic music played ahead of the signing ritual, in which Putin sat at one white gold-trimmed desk and four proxy leaders of the occupied regions sat at another. Once the documents were signed, Putin and the four proxy leaders held hands and chanted “Russia! Russia! Russia!” to cheers and applause from the audience.

Except that there’s a reason this referendum is a complete sham. It’s against international law. Period. Therefore literally every country in the world won’t recognize Russia’s new territory, which is the largest land grab Russia has made since World War II. 

What’s also concerning about this move is that Putin, in his speech, may have essentially kicked to the curb every single treaty Russia has signed on to over the years. If he thinks he doesn’t have to adhere to ANY of those treaties, he’s taken the gloves off and the world will HAVE to respond with more than just sanctions. Read through this entire thread translating his speech, then read it again. 

https://twitter.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1575853684852150272

As I’ve noted before, I’m not a fan of the U.S. shoveling more and more of OUR tax dollars into Ukraine coffers without oversight. I do have concerns about corruption and misuse of the funds. I do have concerns about Ukraine’s handling of the entire issue. I’m equally concerned about Putin. This is from the concert just held in Red Square. It’s highly evident that Putin has been planning something like this for some time. 

https://twitter.com/alleswisser39/status/1575889422838829056

European Council on latest Russian annexation:

-We firmly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine's #Donetsk, #Luhansk, #Zaporizhzhia and #Kherson regions

-We will strengthen our restrictive measures countering Russia's illegal actions. pic.twitter.com/xE7q8BJhNA

— Abhishek Jha (@abhishekjha157) September 30, 2022

This latest annexation gesture is troubling on multiple levels and Russia’s reaction to the pushback needs to be watched very closely. 

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click