Residents cast their votes in controversial referendums in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on 23 September, 2022. Photo: AFP
Russia's Vladimir Putin will hold a signing ceremony on Friday to annex four more areas of Ukraine after self-styled referendums condemned by Ukraine and the West as a sham.
Russian-backed officials had earlier claimed the five-day exercise secured almost total popular support.
So-called votes were held in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.
The Russian president will make a major speech at the Kremlin.
A stage has already been set up in Moscow's Red Square, with billboards proclaiming the four regions as part of Russia and a concert planned for the evening.
The event echoes Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which also followed a disputed referendum and was heralded by a Kremlin signing followed by a presidential victory speech in parliament. That initial annexation has never been recognised by the vast majority of the international community, and nor will this.
If Russia moves ahead with its plans to annex four Ukrainian regions, it would mark a "dangerous escalation" that would jeopardise the prospects for peace in the region, the United Nations Secretary-General said.
"Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters.
"Any decision by Russia to go forwards will further jeopardise the prospects for peace," Guterres said.
"It will prolong the dramatic impacts on the global economy, especially in developing countries, and hinder our ability to deliver life-saving aid across Ukraine and beyond."
New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand did not recognise the results of what she called a sham referenda.
Mahuta said the so-called referenda were not free or fair and were clearly not held in accordance with democratic principles. She stated her opinion that these were instead organised under the threat of force.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the "pseudo-referendums" were worthless and did not change reality. "The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to recognition of the results by Russia will be very harsh."
No independent monitoring of the Russian process took place and election officials were pictured going from door to door escorted by armed soldiers.
"Tomorrow in the St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace a signing ceremony will be held on incorporating the new territories into Russia," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Separate agreements will be signed with the two Russian-backed separatist leaders from the east and the two Russian-appointed officials from the south.
As with Crimea, Russia's two houses of parliament will formally ratify the annexation treaties next week. The Russian president is expected to address the upper house of parliament on 4 October, three days before his 70th birthday.
It is expected the annexation process will be completed three days before Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday. Photo: AFP / Kremlin.Ru
The US has said it will impose sanctions on Russia because of the staged referendums, while EU member states are considering an eighth round of measures, including sanctions on anyone involved in the votes.
US President Joe Biden has said the US would "never, never, never" recognise Russia's attempt to annex territory in Ukraine, speaking ahead of a speech on Friday from Vladimir Putin, who is expected to declare that four Ukrainian regions are joining Russia.
"The United States, I want to be very clear about this, will never, never, never recognise Russia's claims on Ukraine sovereign territory," Biden said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that people in occupied regions of Ukraine had been taken from their homes and workplaces by threat and sometimes at gunpoint. "This is the opposite of free and fair elections. And this is the opposite of peace, it is a dictated peace," she said.
The exercise began across 15 percent of Ukraine last Friday with only a few days' notice. Russian state media argued that the use of armed guards was for security purposes, but it was clear that it had the added effect of intimidating residents.
A woman takes part in the controversial referendum Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 23 September, 2022. Photo: AFP
"You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it," one woman in Enerhodar told the BBC.
Russia does not fully control any of the four regions it has decided to annex. Although most of Luhansk remains in Russian hands, Moscow only controls 60 percent of Donetsk.
Seven months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine from the north, east and south, war is still raging on front lines in all four areas. The capital of the southern region of Zaporizhzhia is firmly under the control of Ukraine's government, and a counter-offensive is under way in Kherson.
Although Russian-appointed officials have been calling for annexation for several months, Ukraine's series of military successes in September appear to have forced the Kremlin's hand.
The Ukrainian army has recaptured large swathes of the north-east and on Thursday said its forces were encircling Russian troops in the strategically important city of Lyman, in Donetsk.
- BBC / Reuters / RNZ