Putin declares martial law in four key Ukrainian regions during a televised address

During a televised address, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in four Ukrainian regions. Regions he claims to have annexed.

The areas include Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donestsk and Luhansk.

Martial law will see the imposition of direct military control, overthrowing civil law by any government.

“We are working on solving very complex, large-scale tasks to ensure a reliable future for Russia, the future of our people,” the Russian president said.

The law has been published on the Kremlin’s website. It gives emergency powers to the Russian-installed heads of the four annexed regions of Ukraine.

In a further six provinces on the border of Ukraine, Putin is also granting additional authority to leaders. This will ensure they can maintain public order and increase support of Moscow’s war.

The freedom to move in and out of the regions has also been limited.

This all follows reports of Ukrainian forces making advances in these areas, suggesting Putin may be clutching at straws.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has slammed the Putin’s announcement, saying the orders are a “new state of terror” and Ukraine will do everything in its power to rescue the people.

In the U.S., President Joe Biden says Putin’s martial law decree is an act of desperation.

“I think Vladimir Putin finds himself in an incredibly difficult position and what it reflects to me is it seems his only tool available to him is to brutalize individual citizens in Ukraine to try to intimidate them into capitulating,” Biden said.

Putin has labelled Ukraine as a terrorist country and blamed it for the Crimea bridge explosion.