PM Truss slams Putin, says UK 'will never accept' Russia's annexation of Ukraine territories

UK prime minister Liz Truss on Friday (30) accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of breaching international law as Moscow prepared to formally annex four occupied Ukrainian territories.

Truss slammed the Russian leader for showing "clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent".

"The UK will never ignore the sovereign will of those people and we will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as anything other than Ukrainian territory," she added.

Putin signs decrees to recognise Zaporozhye, Kherson regions' independence

On Friday, Russia recognised the independence of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine, according to Putin's decrees published by the official database of legislative information, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported.

While one document recognized "state sovereignty and independence of the Zaporozhye Region," the other -- of the Kherson Region.

Both decrees come into force on the same day they were signed.

As per the documents, Putin's decision is based on universal principles and norms of the international law, acknowledging and confirming the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples enshrined by the UN Charter, the TASS report added.