Russia Admits It Doesn't Know Where Its Western Border Is After Annexation

The Kremlin on Monday said that it doesn't know where Russia's "new Western border is," days after Russia illegally proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions: Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia has yet to finalize the borders of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

"We will continue to consult with the people who live in those regions," Peskov said during a conference call, without elaborating. Peskov added that he could not go into detail about what format the consultation would take.

"I've said all I can say on that," he added when asked for further clarification on the matter.

Peskov said the borders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) may become part of Russia within its borders established in 2014 when Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Putin signed agreements on the inclusion of the DPR, LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Russia on September 30. Prior to that, so-called "referendums" were held in the territories that were partially occupied by Russian forces during the Ukraine war.

None of the regions are fully under the control of Russian forces.

Peskov said there will be no new "referendums" in the territories of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are continuing to make steady advances as part of its ongoing counteroffensive.

On Monday, Kyiv said Ukraine's armed forces recaptured two settlements in the Kherson region. That announcement came shortly after Ukraine claimed full control of the key eastern supply hub of Lyman.

In an address to the nation on Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two settlements of the occupied southern Kherson region, Arkhangelsk and Myrolyubivka, had been liberated amid Kyiv's ongoing and successful counteroffensive efforts.

Zelensky also announced the liberation of Lyman—a key railway junction, located in the eastern Donetsk region, that was seized by Russian forces in May, three months after Putin's war against Ukraine began.

Kyiv launched an offensive to retake Kherson from Russian troops in early September. That effort has moved slower against the backdrop of a lightning offensive that saw Ukraine recapture swathes of territory in Kharkiv in the northeast.

Keir Giles, a Russia expert and a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, a U.K. think tank, told Newsweek that the continuing advance of Ukrainian forces demonstrates the "farcical nature" of Russia's claims to have "annexed" part of Ukrainian territory.

"Liberation of towns like Lyman the very next day after Putin claimed that they were Russian forever exposes how nonsensical Russia's claims are for all the world to see," he said.

"Russia had laid claim to parts of Ukraine that it did not even control, and now is losing even areas that were in fact occupied by Russian forces," Giles added. "One major consequence is making it even harder for Russia to keep control of the story is that it tells its own population about the war, by making the gap between Putin's fantasies and reality impossible to conceal."

Zelensky has vowed that the "attachment" of occupied regions to Russia would signify the end of any negotiations with Moscow.

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.