The head of the "Luhansk People's Republic" Leonid Pasechnik issued a formal appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate the region into Russia, Pasechnik said in a statement on Wednesday.

Later in the day, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed administrator of Kherson region, and the Russian-appointed leader of the Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, announced that they had also appealed to Putin with a request to incorporate the two regions into Russia.