Putin likely to announce accession of occupied regions of Ukraine on 30 Sept

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 Sept. 30, the British Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

The referendums currently underway within these territories are scheduled to conclude on Sept. 27, 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.

The reports also came as final day of voting was taking place in Russian-held regions of Ukraine on Tuesday in referendums that are expected to serve as a pretext for their annexation by Moscow and is heightening tension between the Kremlin and the West over Russia's warnings it could resort to nuclear weapons.

Formal annexation of captured chunks of eastern Ukraine, possibly as soon as Friday, sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in the seven-month war, with Russia warning the West that from then on it will be defending its own territory — and could resort to nuclear weapons to protect it.

Faced with recent humiliating battlefield setbacks for the Kremlin's forces in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the ballot to try and force Ukraine to halt its counteroffensive. If it doesn't, the Kremlin has cautioned, Kyiv faces a devastating escalation of the conflict, all the way up to the use of its nuclear arsenal.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, spelled out the threat in the bluntest terms yet Tuesday.

“Let’s imagine that Russia is forced to use the most powerful weapon against the Ukrainian regime that has committed a large-scale act of aggression, which is dangerous for the very existence of our state,” Medvedev wrote on his messaging app channel. “I believe that NATO will steer clear from direct meddling in the conflict in that case.”