The head of the United Nations has warned Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions will be a “dangerous escalation” as the US said it would never recognise the “land grab”.
The Kremlin said a ceremony will be held on Friday to launch the process of annexing the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia after referendums roundly branded a sham by the international community.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday any annexation “stands against everything the international community is meant to stand for,” and “must not be accepted.”
He said “the so-called ‘referenda”’ can’t be called “a genuine expression of the popular will” because they were conducted during armed conflict in areas under Russian occupation, and outside Ukraine‘s legal and constitutional framework.
A UN spokesman said Mr Guterres said the same thing to Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia during a meeting on Wednesday.
His comments were echoed on Thursday evening by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Washington would never recognise Russia’s planned annexation or the legitimacy of the Moscow-orchestrated referendums that amount to a “further attempt at a land grab.”
He said the votes did not reflect the will of the people and said they were carried out by Russia’s “proxies” in violation of international law.
Mr Blinken said the referendums on joining Russia are “an affront to the principles of international peace and security” and accused Moscow of compelling Ukrainian citizens who did not flee to “cast ballots at gunpoint, in fear of their safety and the safety of their loved ones.”
He reiterated President Joe Biden’s pledge that the US will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and that it would continue to assist the country, along with its allies, “in its fight to defend its territory against Russian aggression.”
Other Western officials branded the move a “panic” measure after reverses suffered by Russian forces in a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the north of the country.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan pressed Putin in a call to take steps to reduce tensions in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, who will hold an emergency meeting with security and defence chiefs on Friday, promised a harsh response to a step he said has killed off chances of reviving peace talks.
The votes “are worthless and do not change reality. The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored,” he said.
Ukraine’s top general said he and the top US Army commander in Europe had discussed the war and that he had received assurances of further support from Washington.
Putin’s annexation ceremony will be held in one of the Kremlin’s grandest halls with the pro-Russian figures Moscow considers to be leaders of the four Ukrainian regions.
His spokesman Dmitry Peskov added Putin would deliver a major speech. He did not say whether Putin would attend a planned Red Square concert, as he did a similar event in 2014 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
Giant video screens have been erected in the Moscow square billboards proclaiming “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!”.
Officials report growing opposition to the Russian leader after his announcement last week of a partial mobilisation of military reservists, with an estimated 250,000 men having left the country to avoid the draft.
The exodus comes on top of 400,000 thought to have left in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in February, including many of the country’s best-educated and most skilled workers, adding to the pressure on a Russian economy already hit hard by sanctions.
Protests against the mobilisation are also reported to be increasing, with Western officials saying they tracked 17 fires started at recruitment centres in the four days after the call-up.
One official said it is becoming increasing clear to the Russian people that their country has suffered a humiliation which could ultimately weaken Mr Putin’s grip on power.
