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

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.

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.

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“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 Kremlin warned that any attack on any parts of the newly annexed regions will instantly be considered as an act of aggression against Russia itself.

On Friday afternoon Putin delivered a deranged speech at the Kremlin and has given yet another warning of a nuclear attack, the former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said.

Kasyanov told Sky News that Putin’s speech was a “strange historical lecture with manipulation of facts.”

#He noted that the Russian president promised that he will defend the new Russian Federation sovereign territories with “all means” required, which is a further threat to use nuclear weapons.

The criteria a country must meet to join NATO are:

• A functioning democratic political system based on a market economy
• The fair treatment of minority populations
• A commitment to the peaceful resolution of conflicts
• The ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations
• A commitment to democratic civil-military relations and institutional structures.

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.”