HomeWorldRussia isolated and under pressure after the annexation of new territories in...

Russia isolated and under pressure after the annexation of new territories in Ukraine

The EU, the United States and other countries such as Turkey have rejected the annexation of these new territories and Kyiv has announced that it will take over the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Russia is isolated and pressured this Saturday, the day after the official annexation of four Ukrainian territories that unleashed a rain of international condemnation and the rejection of Kyiv, determined to reconquer its territory.

The EU, the United States and other countries such as Turkey have rejected the annexation of these new territories and Kyiv has announced that it will take over the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“After Putin’s annexation attempts, Ukraine officially informed the International Court of Justice that this step is a flagrant violation” of the ICJ’s March 16 order calling on Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba tweeted.

“We urge the Court to take up the case as soon as possible,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin closed the day of the annexation ceremony on Friday night in front of several thousand people gathered for a festive concert in Moscow’s Red Square. “Victory will be ours,” he said, while at the same time his army was experiencing difficulties in the Ukraine.

“Welcome home”, the Russian president also declared when addressing the inhabitants of the annexed Ukrainian territories, affirming that Russia opened “its heart” to them.

The Russians “at the limit of their strength” in Lyman

On the same day, a particularly deadly missile attack killed at least 30 civilians in an area under Ukrainian control near Zaporizhya (southern Ukraine).

During a ceremony in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin signed the annexation documents, together with the leaders of the separatist regions of Ukraine in Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and those occupied by Russian troops in Zaporizhia and Kherson (south).

In his speech, he called on Kyiv to cease “all hostilities and return to the negotiating table”, despite the recent setbacks inflicted on the Russian army by the Ukrainian forces, to which the siege has been added since Friday part of the strategic locality of Lyman. (east) by the Ukrainians.

Russian soldiers at Lyman, a major railway junction, are fighting “at the limit of their strength” and the situation there is “difficult”, a senior pro-Russian separatist official, Denis Pushilin, acknowledged on Friday.

For his part, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, hailed the “significant results” of his troops’ counteroffensive.

“We have significant results in the east of the country (…) The whole world has heard what is happening in Lyman, in the Donetsk region. These are stages that mean a lot to us,” he said with delight in his daily speech published on networks social.

american support

Previously, he had rejected any negotiations with Moscow while Vladimir Putin is president, while announcing that he would “sign Ukraine’s candidacy for accelerated entry into NATO.”

In Washington, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, assured that his country and Canada were in favor of this membership.

“We strongly support the entry into NATO of countries that want to join and can contribute their capabilities,” he said after an interview with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. But, she added, “there is a process for this and countries will continue to follow this process.”

US President Joe Biden vowed to “support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory” and said the United States and its allies would not be “intimidated” by President Putin.

His White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said there would be “an announcement next week of immediate security assistance” for Ukraine.

Sentences and sanctions

The leaders of the EU countries issued a statement on Friday “rejecting” and “condemning” this “illegal annexation”.

Turkey “rejects” this annexation as it refused to recognize the annexation of Crimea, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

NATO denounced the ‘illegitimate’ annexation, while in New York the UN Security Council considered a resolution condemning ‘pseudo-annexations’ in Ukraine, which was immediately blocked by a Russian veto.

Apart from the Russian veto, the resolution received 10 votes in favor and four countries abstained (China, India, Brazil and Gabon).

In his speech in the Kremlin, Putin criticized the West, which he accused of wanting to preserve a “neocolonial system that allows it to parasitize and, in fact, plunder the entire world.”

These annexations come after a seven-month Russian offensive in Ukraine and urgently organized “referendums” in the occupied regions, which have been denounced as “drills” by Kyiv and its allies.

As a sign of this haste and some disorganization, the Kremlin spokesman announced that he had to “clarify” whether Russia was annexing all the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia, or only those that it actually occupied.

Sweeping away criticism, Putin assured that he “did not aspire” to restore the USSR. He also signed a decree that facilitates access to Russian nationality for foreigners who join the army, a measure obviously aimed at recruiting immigrants from the former USSR who work in Russia.

Lethal blow

On the streets of Moscow, Ildar Babaïev, a 38-year-old military man, told AFP that he found the annexations “tremendous”. “It should have been done a long time ago, eight years ago, in fact,” during the first conflict between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists, he added.

In Ukraine, on the same day, at least 11 civilians were found dead on a road, shot to death, after the withdrawal of Russian troops from much of the Kharkiv region (northeast), an AFP team said.

Since the beginning of the offensive, Kyiv has denounced abuses by the Russian army, accusations systematically rejected by Moscow.

In an area still under Ukrainian control in the Zaporizhia region (south), one of the four territories annexed by Moscow, at least 30 people were killed and 88 wounded by a Russian attack, according to Ukrainian police. A pro-Russian official, in turn, blamed the Ukrainian forces.

AFP journalists saw fifteen cars with smashed windows and at least three dead women on the ground. People waited here for permission to return to the territories under Russian control.

Author: LT with AFP
Source: BFM TV

Stay Connected
16,985FansLike
2,458FollowersFollow
61,453SubscribersSubscribe
Must Read
Related News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here