Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to announce the accession of occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation during his address to parliament on September 30th, the British Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.
The referendums currently underway within these territories are scheduled to conclude on September 27th, the Defence Ministry said in its daily briefing on Twitter.
"Russia's leaders almost certainly hope that any accession announcement will be seen as a vindication of the special military operation and will consolidate patriotic support for the conflict", it said.
Meanwhile, the United States warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Moscow were to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, after Russia's Foreign Minister said regions holding widely-criticised referendums would get full protection if annexed by Moscow.
Votes in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force mostly since its invasion in February, were staged for a third day on Sunday. The Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days.
By incorporating the four areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies.
