KYIV, July 11 - As Russian missiles struck a key Ukrainian city, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree expanding a fast-track procedure to make Russian citizenship available to all Ukrainians, yet another effort to expand Moscow’s influence in war-torn Ukraine, CNBC reported.

Ukraine has condemned the decree, calling it an “encroachment” on Kyiv’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Until recently, only residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, large parts of which are now under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified passport procedure.