Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced martial law in the four regions of Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed last month (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia), according to EFE, Agerpres reads.

In addition, Putin has granted increased powers to the heads of certain Russian regions to enact security measures targeting the population and critical infrastructure.

„The Kyiv regime, as is well known, refuses to recognize the will and choice of the people,” Putin said in a videoconference meeting of the Russian Security Council, in an attempt to justify the announced measures.

„Putin’s martial law is a preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population to disadvantaged regions of Russia in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory”, the Secretary of the Defense and National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksii Danilov, wrote on Twitter.