Putin annexes areas of Ukraine, sparking new U.S. sanctions
Russian President Vladimir Putin used a speech in Moscow on Friday to falsely proclaim four Ukrainian regions were now part of the Russian Federation, a move that comes amid Moscow’s growing battlefield setbacks in its war in Ukraine and a decision to call up tens of thousands of reservists.
Putin claimed the illegal annexations were “the will of millions of people” to huge applause during a signing ceremony in the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall despite widespread reports of voter coercion and people being pressured at gunpoint.
The illegal occupation could potentially raise the stakes of Russia’s seven-month-old war in Ukraine because Putin vowed to defend the annexed territories with “all available means,” a veiled reference to his insistence he would be prepared to use nuclear weapons if Russia’s territory is threatened.
Russia is incorporating the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas of Ukraine – representing roughly 15% of Ukraine’s territory – following widely discredited referenda that mirrored a similar move to annex Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
During his wide-ranging address Putin called on Ukraine to negotiate over the war Russia started and restated a laundry list of complaints against the West, such as that it “doesn’t want us to be a free society” and it wants Russia to be a “colony.” His address was full of historical inaccuracies about the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin also accused the U.S. and Britain of sabotaging Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Other developments:
► The U.S. imposed broad new sanctions on Russia in response, with President Joe Biden saying that Putin’s action lack legitimacy. “We will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically,” the U.S. leader said in a statement.
►Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he has asked NATO to fast-track the country’s membership application to the military alliance.
►To celebrate the incorporation, which Ukraine and U.S. officials have called illegal and illegitimate, an evening concert in Moscow’s Red Square is also expected.
►Overnight, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office said at least 25 people were killed after a Russian missile hit a convoy of civilian vehicles in Zaporizhzhia attempting to deliver humanitarian aid.
►Western nations, including Canada, also imposed new sanctions on Russian oligarchs, financial elites and Russian-installed officials in occupied areas of Ukraine.
White House: Referendums in Ukraine ‘pre-staged and falsified’
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan characterized Russia’s illegal annexation of sections of Ukraine as a flagrant violation of international law and part of Vladimir Putin’s playbook of “deceit, disinformation and aggression.”
“Based on our information, every aspect of this process was pre-staged and falsified,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Friday.
Earlier Friday, Putin falsely proclaimed four Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine were now part of the Russian Federation following forced elections in those provinces last week. Putin…
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