Following Vladimir Putin’s largest land grab in Europe since the Second World War, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that he will submit a “fast tracked” application to join NATO.

More than 15% of Ukraine was officially declared into the Russian Federation on Friday afternoon following Putin’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories, which the West has condemned and called it a “sham.”

On Friday Putin signed a decree in the Kremlin making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine formally part of the Russian Federation.

Read more on Russia-Ukraine war:

Ukraine to submit ‘fast tracked’ request to join NATO sparking fears Putin will draw the alliance into conflict, there will be ‘no winners’

Lyman is ‘fully cleared’ of Russian troops which will now present a huge ‘dilemma for the Russians going forward’

Israel warns an ‘irregular presence’ of Russian strategic bombers seen at a nuclear weapons base prompting fears of an attack

Critics turn on Putin’s war warning it’s ‘truly worrisome’ there has ‘not been any returned or added territories’ in Ukraine

President Zelensky said, “We have already proven our compatibility with Alliance standards.

“We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO.

“We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other.”

He added that Ukraine is already a “de facto” part of NATO.

The adviser to President Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s application to join NATO has already seen the support of 10 European countries.

Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. “We are grateful for the leadership and responsibility. History is being made today.”

In February Putin warned that European countries will be dragged into direct military conflict if NATO allows Ukraine to join the alliance, and further warned that there will be “no winners.”

At the time the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in The Times, he said, “If he launches another invasion, he will force the West to bring about much of what he seeks to prevent.”