MOSCOW—A bloody and costly months-long conflict between the two nations ended in an unconditional surrender early Friday morning after Ukraine completed its successful takeover of Russia. “While much of the world’s attention moved on, our people continued to fight, and today we have finally achieved our ultimate aim of annexing all of Russia into the nation of Ukraine,” said victorious Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the Kremlin, where he personally presided as deposed President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials were led away in chains. “At the beginning of this war, Russia overplayed her hand, and many around the world wrote us off. But our counter-offensives this summer went better than even we expected, and after we seized Russia’s entire railway system in June, we began to see a complete takeover as a real possibility. These past few weeks, as we successfully occupied Moscow, St. Petersburg, and several key military bases, the writing was on the wall. After accepting Putin’s surrender, my message to the 150 million former citizens of Russia is this: Though you fought hard, we have unambiguously defeated you in battle, and we now invite you to move forward with us as Ukrainians. Those who do not comply will join members of the Russian military and other dissidents in Ukrainian labor camps. We believe, however, that you will unite with us, because Ukrainians and Russians have always been the same people.” With the Russian domino having fallen, Zelensky added that troops were already mobilizing to conquer Georgia, Poland, and Kazakhstan and make them all part of a united Ukraine.