Putin formalizes annexation claims even as Ukraine forces Russian forces to retreat

Russian President Vladimir Putin formalized his claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions Wednesday, even as his troops were in retreat across that territory.

Kyiv said that its forces were making rapid advances in the south and the east, retaking land and exposing the Kremlin’s struggle to match its political theater with reality on the battlefield after Putin escalated his seven-month war with the illegal annexation, renewed nuclear threats and a military call-up plagued by issues.

In a last symbolic step, Putin signed the decrees to legislate the absorption of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions early Wednesday after the two chambers...