Russian president Vladimir Putin has now signed treaties to annex parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces. The signing came three days after the end of referendums on joining Russia that Ukraine and the West dismissed as shams.  Ukraine has responded to Russia annexing those occupied regions of Ukraine by submitting an  "accelerated" application to join NATO.

Ruslan is originally from Donetsk which is one of the regions that was annexed. He's now in western Ukraine. 

Dan Hamilton is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe. He's also a former State Department official.