section_path: Events/Russian annexations and occupation losses (6 September – 11 November 2022)/Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
section_name: Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
paragraph_text: Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
  
  In late September 2022, Russian-installed officials in Ukraine organised referendums on the annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine. These included the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, as well as the Russian-appointed military administrations of Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Denounced by Ukraine's government and its allies as sham elections, the elections' official results showed overwhelming majorities in favour of annexation.
  
  On 30 September 2022, Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in an address to both houses of the Russian parliament. Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations all denounced the annexation as illegal.