Republics of Russia

In Russia, republics are a type of federal subject. They were originally created as nation states for non-Russian ethnic groups.
Status of Southeast Ukraine.
On 18 March 2014, Russia annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea of Ukraine after an unrecognized referendum.The peninsula became the Republic of Crimea, the 22nd republic of Russia. However, Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize Crimea's annexation. United Nations General Assembly declared the vote to be illegitimate.
On 24 February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and took large areas of southern and eastern Ukraine. As early as March leaders in the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic both said their wish to join Russia, originally once Russia captured all their claimed territory. However, after quick Ukrainian gains in the east in September, Russia and the unrecognized republics rushed a series of referendums on annexation to Russia. The referendum results claimed a large majority supported annexation. On 30 September 2022, Putin formally announced the annexation of the two republics. However, the referendums were recognized internationally as a sham while the European Union and G7 said they were illegal. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the annexations as a violation of the UN Charter.
Kherson Oblast, another region annexed by Russia, was originally thought to be upgrading itself to a "people's republic", according to United States intelligence. However, it never happened, and by the time of the referendums in late September 2022, Kherson's status in Russia stayed unmentioned. When Kherson was annexed, along with neighbouring Zaporizhzhia Oblast, they became oblasts instead of republics.