Kiev starts preparations for targeting Zaporozhye Region: Official

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Senior official in the Zaporozhye Region Vladimir Rogov said, as quoted by Sputnik on Monday, that Ukrainian authorities have begun planning an offensive against the region, so provocations may occur in the near future.

"[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's regime has begun an ideological and informational preparation for an offensive on the Zaporozhye region. In addition to amassing troops to the front line, videos are now being widely filmed for the Western consumers with stories about what the Zaporozhye region is, how and why it should be 'liberated.' This is clearly being done in order to solicit for even more weapons for criminal intentions," Rogov said.

Kiev authorities may decide to incite or escalate hostilities in the next two or three weeks, as per the official.

It is worth noting that the four unification treaties with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics alongside the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions were officially signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin last Wednesday. 

The documents were unanimously endorsed by the upper house of the Russian parliament and the Federation Council after the State Duma ratified the agreements on Monday and were certified as lawful by the country’s Constitutional Court over the weekend.

The agreements were signed by the heads of the four former Ukrainian regions on Friday alongside Putin, after the referendums were held between September 23 and 27, which have been rejected by Kiev and the West, and who unsurprisingly vowed to never recognize the four accessions. The UNSC condemned the referenda, claiming that they "have no validity" and "cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions," including "any purported annexation."

The DPR and LPR split from Ukraine in 2014 and shortly after launching a military operation in February this year, Russia seized Kherson Region and a larger part of Zaporozhye Region. The new laws, as per the State Duma, dictate that the DPR and LPR will maintain their status as republics, while Zaporozhye and Kherson will continue to be addressed as "regions". Russian will be considered the official language of all the recently accessioned constituents.

In February 2022, the Donbass republics were recognized as independent states by the Kremlin after requesting that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country to not join any Western military bloc.