(ANSA-AP) - KIEV, APRIL 24 - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree to expedite applications for Russian citizenship by Ukrainians living in separatist-held areas. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Wednesday called Russia's decision "a new stage of the occupation of Donbass." "I'm calling on Ukrainian citizens on the Russia-occupied territories to refuse Russian passports," he said on Twitter.

Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine's envoy at the United Nations, said on Wednesday that he has reached out to the U.N. Security Council to discuss the move, which he said grossly violates the 2015 peace accords. After annexing Crimea in a hastily called referendum, Russia threw its weight behind separatist rebels in the east but stopped short of recognizing their independence vote or, until now, offering Russian citizenship to the local residents, even during the worst of fighting. There was no immediate reaction from Zelenskiy's office.

(ANSA-AP).