Image source, EPA

US Secretary Antony Blinken called Vladimir Putin's claim of Western sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks "outrageous disinformation".

Denmark and Sweden reported leaks in the undersea pipeline carrying Russian natural gas to the EU earlier this week.

Nato said the incidents were the result of "deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage".

"I really have nothing to say to the absurd allegation from President Putin that we are or other partners or allies are somehow responsible for this," Blinken said.

The UK government says it will bring in new measures to restrict Russia's access to key commercial and transactional services.

The Foreign Office said it will also ban almost 700 goods that are critical to manufacturing production being exported to Russia.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly says the sanction are targeted at "vulnerable sectors of the Russian economy".

He adds: "The Russian regime must be held to account for this abhorrent violation of international law."

Other sanctions included on the government website include Russia losing access to western services that it depends on, such as IT consultancy, architectural services, engineering services, and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activity.

The UK has also sanctioned Russia's Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, by imposing an asset freeze and travel ban.

Loud chanting could be heard as the ceremony where Vladimir Putin announced the illegal annexation of four areas in Ukraine was brought to a close.

The audience erupted to chants of 'Russia! Russia!' after formal documents were signed by Putin and the appointed leaders of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Putin joined hands with his proxy leaders and could be seen chanting alongside the crowd.

Crowds of people are gathering in Red Square for a concert marking Russia's announcement of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories.

Many in the crowd are carrying Russian flags, with several having painted the national colours on their faces. Some attendees are carrying flags with Russia's pro-war "Z" symbol on them.

Image source, Getty Images

Since Vladimir Putin announced the start of partial mobilisation on 21 September, countries bordering Russia have had to contend with thousands of Russians - primarily men - fleeing their country en masse to avoid being called to fight in Ukraine.

As of midnight, Finland is barring Russians with Schengen tourist visas from entering the country following a surge of arrivals.

The move follows last week's decision by Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland to close its borders to Russians.

On Thursday, Lithuania's Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said that Lithuania's decision to close its borders to most Russians was timely as officials from Russian intelligence or military bodies could arrive in the country under the guise of fleeing mobilisation and create a network of "sleeper agents".

Image source, Reuters

Kazakh authorities reported that 98,000 Russians had crossed the border since Vladimir Putin announced the start of partial mobilisation. AFP reported that rent prices in the border regions of Kazakhstan had increased by 34% in the space of a week. "Astana is in shock. A huge crowd of Russians is queuing at the public services centre," the opposition Telegram channel BASE said, externali n a video post.

Other Central Asian countries are also feeling the strain. In Kyrgyzstan, the Ministry of Digital Development reported that more than 3,500 Russian citizens have registered in the country, and the country’s parliament discussed reports Russians coming to Kyrgyzstan are driving up rents and causing some citizens to be evicted from their rented homes.

And earlier this week, the authorities in Russia's North Ossetia republic said they would restrict access to the border with Georgia for cars from other parts of the Russian Federation. The order came a day after North Ossetia announced the opening of an army mobilisation centre on the border after queues of thousands of cars formed as Russian men attempted to flee Russia.

Image source, Reuters

President Putin's speech came as Ukrainian troops are continuing their counter-offensive in the north-east of the country.

Reports are now emerging that a large group of Russian soldiers - believed to several thousand - could soon completely surrender in the key city of Lyman, Donetsk region.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader of the occupied part of the region, who is currently in Moscow, admitted earlier on Friday that the city was now "semi-encircled".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in recent days has promised some "good news" from the battlefield, without giving any further details.

Earlier, on Friday there were reports that Ukrainian troops re-took the nearby town of Yampil. Footage has emerged purportedly showing a Ukrainian soldier in front of the town's main administrative building.

The liberation of Lyman would be seen as a massive military blow to Russia, allowing Ukrainian troops to completely mop-up the northern part of the Donetsk region and move further into the neighbouring Luhansk region.

We've been following the reaction around the world to Putin's annexation of occupied Ukrainian regions. Here is some of the condemnation for Russia's latest attack against Ukraine:

• UK Foreign secretary James Cleverly said Britain would be stepping up sanctions against Russia following the "illegal" annexation, adding the measures would restrict Russia access to key UK commercial and transactional services as well as banning the export to Russia of almost 700 goods that are critical to manufacturing production.
• Italy's Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right party won the Italian election last week, said on Friday that Putin "once again demonstrates his neo-imperialist, Soviet-style vision, which threatens the security of the entire European continent".
• The European Council, which brings together EU leaders, said "we firmly reject and unequivocally condemn" the annexation, which it said had no legal impact.
• Sweden echoed these calls, with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson saying it condemned the illegal annexation "in the strongest terms", calling Russia's move a "complete farce"

US President Joe Biden has condemned Russia's "fraudulent" attempt to annex four areas of Ukraine, which he says violates international law.

"Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere," Biden said in a statement.

He added that the US will "always honour" Ukraine's "internationally recognized borders".

"We will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically, including through the $1.1 billion in additional security assistance the United States announced this week," Biden said.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

In his speech today, Vladimir Putin said the United States had created a "precedent" by using nuclear weapons against Japan at the end of World War Two.

That comment won't have gone unnoticed by Western governments.

Russia's nuclear sabre-rattling has been causing concern in the West. But it's worrying people inside Russia, too. This week, an editorial in the country's mainstream Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper was heavily critical of "senior Russian officials" for making "nuclear threats".

"It is incredible that today… high-ranking officials in Russia start talking about the nuclear button," the editorial continued. "They do this without a second thought… They even forget to make the qualification so important for the world to hear: 'Of course, we mustn't allow this under any circumstance.'

"To allow, in thoughts and words, the possibility of a nuclear conflict is a sure step to allowing it in reality."

Read more here.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

Image source, Reuter

Vladimir Putin's decision to annex the four Ukrainian territories ("incorporate" in Kremlinspeak) is the Russian president's latest offensive in his battle with Ukraine and the West.

Through annexation, the Kremlin is trying to change the facts on the ground (at a time when Russia has been losing ground in Ukraine).

Putin wants to present a fait accompli to Kyiv and to the West.

It raises the stakes considerably in the president's standoff with Ukraine and the Western world.

The Kremlin event was carefully choreographed for maximum patriotic effect: plenty of applause for the president from the invited audience; a stirring rendition of the national anthem; and Putin and the four Kremlin-appointed administrators of the annexed territories clasping hands and chanting "Russia! Russia!" along with everyone in the hall.

But declaring "this is my land now" doesn't make it true. Especially in the light of the so-called "referendums" in the occupied territories, which were not real referendums at all. They were Kremlin-conceived, Kremlin-controlled events designed as a smokescreen for Moscow to grab 15% of Ukraine's territory.

Ukraine will not accept this annexation; neither will the international community as a whole.

Read more here.

More now from President Zelensky, who's been speaking following an urgent meeting of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council.

On Ukraine's fast-track application for Nato membership, the Ukrainian president says Finland and Sweden started the procedure of joining the alliance without taking part in the formal membership plan - and so it's fair for Ukraine to do the same.

Appearing to refer to Vladimir Putin's earlier call for negotiations to resume between Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky says it was "our country that had always" tried to co-exist "on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions".

He also suggests peace talks with Putin are not possible, saying:

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

Fresh sanctions from the EU, against the Kremlin, were already en route before today's announcement from President Putin.

Ambassadors met in Brussels this afternoon but didn’t manage to get the latest package over the line.

The measures, which will likely get the green light next week, include new import and export bans as well as legal alignment with the G7 group's proposed oil price cap.

But Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said that these new measures are not enough. There is a sense in Brussels of lost momentum, when compared to the initial waves of sanctions that immediately followed the invasion.

Some member states feel so much has already been done while they nervously turn their attention to getting Europe through the energy crisis this winter. But there are also countries, typically Poland and the Baltic states, who are always agitating to go further.

Today’s developments will, they feel, back up their argument.

The US has imposed new sanctions on Russia as a result of its illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

The US Treasury Department says it is targeting the "military-industrial complex" behind the war in Ukraine including two international suppliers, three leaders of Russia’s financial infrastructure, immediate family members of some senior Russian officials, and 278 members of Russia’s legislature for enabling the move.

“We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine," said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"The Treasury Department and US government are taking sweeping action today to further weaken Russia’s already degraded military industrial complex and undermine its ability to wage its illegal war."

Yellen adds the US and its allies will not hesitate to take "severe actions" against people and companies inside and outside of Russia "who are complicit in this war and these sham referendums".

In Ukraine, President Zelensky has announced that he is requesting fast-track Nato membership after Vladimir Putin attempted to annex four Ukrainian regions.

In a Telegram post, he said:

A video of Zelensky's statement was also posted by the Ukrainian presidency on social media.

Before Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February, Moscow was demanding legally binding guarantees that Ukraine would never be admitted to Nato, a US-led military alliance.

It's been claimed that Russia used this as a pretext, among others, to launch its so-called special military operation.

Image source, Reuters

Vladimir Putin has hosted a so-called signing ceremony and made a speech from the Kremlin in Moscow announcing the illegal seizure of four areas of Ukraine.

After the appointed leaders of the territories and the Russian leader signed formal documents, the audience in the grand hall chanted "Russia! Russia! Russia!".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuter

If you're just joining us, you may have missed Vladimir Putin's speech from the Kremlin to mark the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

Here's a rundown of what was said.

Annexation made official

The Russian leader claimed the so-called referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - which have been branded a sham in the West - were the "will of millions of people".

Documents were signed by Putin and the Russian-appointed leaders of the four regions, effectively declaring them Russian territory.

Rebuilding land

Putin said the land being seized would benefit from Russia rebuilding "the ruins in towns and villages" - despite the fact it was Russia that caused the destruction.

Attack on West

A large majority of the speech was taken up by Putin ranting against the West, making unfounded claims including:

• Britain being part of an apparent plan to destroy parts of the Nord Stream pipeline
• Western officials are waging a "hybrid war" against Russia and want to colonise it

Energy prices

Putin also claimed Russia was not to blame for soaring global energy prices, saying instead this is a result of "many years of wrong policies".

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Kyiv

Ukraine has been consistent in the message that nothing changes because of Russia's moves.

Officials here say the so-called referendums were a farce, and that today’s announcement has no legitimacy.

It's simply Moscow’s response to its defeats on the battlefield, they say.

But President Putin’s speech is likely to escalate tensions even further. Russia, he said, would “protect our lands with every possible means that we’ve got”, which will be seen as a reference to nuclear weapons.

Putin also called on Kyiv to immediately stop military action and return to the negotiation table, ideas that will be firmly rejected by the Ukrainians.

President Zelensky had said that any annexation would mean the end of the possibility of dialogue with Russia, and that Ukraine would continue with its offensive to retake all territory that is now in Russian hands.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the president, told me earlier this week: "We’re engaged in the liberation of these territories. And for us, there is no fundamental difference in what Russia will call these territories."

The European Council, which brings together EU leaders, has said "we firmly reject and unequivocally condemn" Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territories, which it said had no legal impact.

In the last hour, Putin has hosted a signing ceremony and made a speech celebrating the seizing of four regions in Ukraine - including Russian-held parts Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The European Council said Russia had "blatantly" violated the "fundamental rights of Ukraine to independence"

"We will never recognise this illegal annexation."

It added that it "stands resolutely" with Ukraine and will "strengthen its restrictive measures" on Russia.

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the move would not change anything and all territories "illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land".

The annexation documents have been signed and Putin has delivered his speech. We're now waiting to see how the world reacts.

Here's what happens next in Russia:

• This evening, a concert will take place on Red Square. Reports on Telegram suggest some people are being paid to attend and have been encouraged to bring flags. Earlier this week, Mediazona reported that students were being invited to attend in exchange for university credits
• A similar rally took place in 2014, after the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, which Putin attended, and at which he gave a speech
• The Constitutional Court will then have to approve the annexations - happening in the next few days
• Once the Constitutional Court’s approval has come through, the State Duma will approve agreements and adopt amendments to the Constitution increasing the size of the Russian Federation
• The documents will then approved by the Federation Council, after which the decision of the Duma is officially signed by Vladimir Putin
• The process is expected to be completed by 4 October but this is the Russian legal process and the annexations will not be recognised by the international community

Image source, EPA

The ceremony has now concluded - at the end President Putin and the Russian-backed leaders of the regions being seized stood for the crowd. The audience in the grand hall chanted "Russia! Russia! Russia!".

The scene resembles the events of eight years ago, when Putin was standing with the Moscow-installed leaders of Crimea - a southern Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia.

We'll bring you analysis and reaction to this illegal move by Russia to declare Ukrainian territory as Russia's own, seven months after it invaded the country.