Vladimir Putin’s Russia took a dangerous and irreversible step by recognising two regions of war-torn Ukraine as independent states ahead of the biggest military annexation of European territory since the Second World War – after Moscow staged a series of fake referendums there and rigged the results at gunpoint.

The Kremlin dictator last night signed decrees recognising Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south and east as states independent of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Government – a precursor to Putin’s deranged plot to illegally absorb 15% of Ukrainian territory into the Russian Federation.

Under an amendment to the Russian constitution made in 2020, Putin and his predecessors are forbidden from ceding any territory once acquired – meaning once the annexation is completed today, it will be irreversible unless Ukraine can successfully recapture the stolen land. Even a partial withdrawal as part of a future peace deal with Kyiv will become impossible.