The Russian president has finished his speech and the Russian-appointed leaders of the territories being seized are now signing the formal documents.

President Putin is signing them too but sitting at a table several metres away, with aides carrying the documents back and forth.

The audience is applauding as each representative is introduced.

The invasion of Ukraine has impacted energy prices - exacerbating high inflation in many countries. UK PM Liz Truss is among leaders who have pointed to this.

Putin turns this on its head. He says Russia is not the source of the problem, and claims the energy crisis has been created by "many years of wrong policies" - that took place way before the war with Ukraine.

The Russian leader also criticised capitalism, saying this was not the way to provide for people.

For Putin, it's the colonising West to blamepublished at 13:53 British Summer Time 30 September 2022

13:53 BST 30 September 2022

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Blaming the West for all Russia's ills is nothing new, but Putin is taking it to a whole new level in this speech.

He is ranting about the West as a coloniser, showing signs of despotism and spreading Russophobia.

We already know Putin sees the fall of the Soviet Union as the greatest catastrophe of the last century. Well now he says the West won't allow Russia to have freedom.

To defend his actions, it's important for him to try and get the message across that Russia is fighting not so much Ukraine but the West too.

But just a brief reality check: this is Russia's war. Annexing a neighbour's sovereign territory is illegal under international law and if any country is engaged in colonialism, it is Putin's.

Continuing on his rant against the West, Putin hones in on the US and Britain, accusing them of sabotage.

Referring to British people as "Anglo-Saxons", he says they helped "organise explosions of [the Nord Stream] pipelines in the Balkan sea".

(He appears to be referring to Ukraine's claims that Russia caused leaks in two major gas pipelines to Europe.)

Putin also refers to the US military as "brutal", before condemning the expansion of Nato.

Image source, Reuters

Vladimir Putin is continuing on a speech listing all his grievances against the West and Ukraine.

He urges Ukraine to "immediately stop firing and return to negotiations".

But he also stresses that the citizens of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson have made "their choice" and says annexation of Ukrainian territory is now non-negotiable.

As we've mentioned, these are dubious claims and the move is illegal under international law.

Putin describes the West as being "greedy", saying it wants Russia to be its "colony". That's why, he continues, the West is waging a "hybrid war" against Russia.

"They don't want to see us a free society. They want to see us as a crowd of slaves," he claims.

And, once again to loud applause, he says: "They don't need Russia. We need Russia!"

Image source, Reuters

Vladimir Putin echoes previous claims that the West is trying to bring Russia to its knees, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The West wants to take over Russia with its new currencies and technological developments, he claims, adding that the West is trying to cancel Russia's culture.

"They are restless that such a rich country exists", pointing to Russia's vast mineral and other resources.

The Russian economy has been hit by sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine in February, with the European Union trying to wean itself off gas imports.

Putin continues with his speech. "Dear friends, colleagues, today I want to appeal to the soldiers taking part in special military operation," he says.

He goes on, saying he wants to appeal to their wives and children too, that they must understand "what we are fighting for".

It comes after a partial mobilisation of Russian men to fight in Ukraine sparked protests and a scramble by some to get out of the country.

Repeating claims that Ukraine belongs to Russia, Putin says the West is merely looking for ways to break up his country by supporting Ukraine in its fight for independence.

President Putin says he wants everyone in Kyiv and the West to hear that those in the Donbas region will become Russian citizens forever, he says.

Kyiv authorities should "take this expression of will with great respect", he claims.

He says Russia will protect its land with all the means it has "to provide safe living for our people".

Russia will rebuild the ruins in towns and villages and develop infrastructure and health care and education.

He says they will work on security so all citizens feel supported by "every part of our great motherland".

Putin talks about rebuilding infrastructure but fails to point out it was Russia that laid waste to it in the first place. And the budget that Russia has so far offered people in the four regions is relatively tiny.

The Russian president is continuing to defend what he is doing in Ukraine - the annexation of four areas of the country - saying they are Russian territory and blaming the West for trying to subdue Russia.

This speech – in St George’s Hall in the Kremlin - follows so-called "referendums" in Russian-held Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The West condemned them as shams held under gunpoint and what Putin has just announced is illegal under international law.

The hastily arranged annexations come as Russia is losing territory in the eastern Donbas region – with Ukrainian forces advancing on the strategic city of Lyman.

Image source, .

Vladimir Putin has asked for a minutes silence to remember the brave soldiers who have died.

He said brave soldiers died during special operations and they are the heroes of Russia.

They died fighting for the lands, he said.

Image source, Reuters

The golden doors have opened and Vladimir Putin is now on stage making his speech.

He says the people of the four Ukrainian regions he's planning to annex have made their decision. "The results are known, well known," he says. "People made their choice - the only choice." The referendums were condemned as illegal by the West and legal experts.

"I'm sure that the Federal Assembly will support the four new regions of Russia, four new subjects of the Russian Federation... because this is the will of millions of people," Putin says to huge applause.

He goes on to say the results are the "natural right" of those who voted.

Putin now goes back into history - claiming that many generations of Russian have fought for these lands.

Image source, Reuters

Vladimir Putin has begun his speech to mark today's so-called signing ceremony.

The Russian leader is speaking from the Kremlin in Moscow.

Stay with us for live updates. You can also watch by pressing the button at the top of the page.

We've been hearing more from Sir Roderic Lyne who believes Putin's decision to annex four Ukrainian provinces shows he is in it "for the long run".

The former British ambassador to Russia said: "I think he's trying to warn Ukrainians and the West that he is now considering these four provinces of Ukraine to be Russian territory so any attack on them is going to be treated as an attack on Russia's territorial integrity."

"And he [Putin] said explicitly, he will use any means to defend Russia's territory."

Sir Roderic, who worked as the ambassador from 2000 to 2004, said the nuclear threats need to be "taken seriously" - but noted that using them "would have a massive downside for Russia".

He said the threat was designed to "intimidate people in the West" to try and build up pressure in public opinion and to undermine Western support for Ukraine.

Waiting for Putin to start his speech, all four Russian-appointed leaders of the occupied Ukrainian regions being annexed in attendance.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also in the hall.

The Kremlin hall where Vladimir Putin is due to give his speech shortly is filling up.

Officials were filmed finding their seats in the grand room lit by chandeliers.

According to the day's timings, we're a few minutes off Vladimir Putin giving his signing-ceremony speech to mark the annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

Stay with us for live updates as it unfolds.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

As it annexes more Ukrainian territory, Russia is trying to repeat what it did in 2014 when it seized Crimea.

The same staged "referendums", requesting to join Russia, then a grand ceremony in the Kremlin to announce the deal with an after-party on Red Square.

But even with Crimea, which the Soviet leader Khrushchev only transferred to Ukraine in 1954, there was no public clamour in Russia to "return" it.

When it happened, it was celebrated with much patriotic pomp. But it had been achieved by stealth, without bloodshed.

Taking these next four chunks of Ukraine is even less of a priority for most Russians, especially as their own relatives will have to fight, and potentially die, for it.

Russian reserves are being mobilised to defend what will be Russia’s self-proclaimed, unrecognised new borders, making the world’s biggest country even bigger. Many tens of thousands of Russian men have been fleeing the country instead.

It's also clear that Russia has been rushed into this action by developments on the ground.

Its forces do not fully control any of the four regions it plans to annex: large parts of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in particular, are under Ukrainian control and Ukrainian troops are still pushing forward.

When Vladimir Putin’s spokesman was asked to clarify today where exactly Russia’s new "borders" would lie, he said he would "have to check".

Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskiy's office, says at least 25 civilians have been killed and 50 wounded following the attack in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia.

The death toll was previously at 23 earlier on Friday.

James Waterhouse
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

It's a scene that is difficult to process. You have a row of vehicles next to an enormous crater and the smell of burning in the air - immediately you are clear what has happened. But what is less clear, initially, is the devastation.

Then you almost stumble across bodies. Some are covered, some aren't. There are people’s coats, bags and belongings strewn across a wide area. There are people who survive sat on their suitcases in a state of shock.

Zaporizhzhia as a city has always tried to carry on as normal. It’s even felt a lot fuller over the past couple of months as people have gained confidence and come back.

Then there are moments like this, where all signs are pointing to a very deliberate targeting.

Most of the victims are civilians and this is an area that had been used as a holding station for those who wanted to head back into Russian occupied territory either for work, to see relatives or otherwise. So it does suggest this is a targeted strike.