Sharjah 24 – AFP: Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday warned the West that the people of four Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions were "our citizens forever" as he prepared to formally annex them at a Kremlin ceremony.

"I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in the Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (regions) are becoming our citizens forever," Putin said, adding that they had made a "unambiguous choice" to join Russia.