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Global denouncement for Kremlin’s annexation

Global denouncement for Kremlin’s annexation

Newslooks- KIYV, Ukraine (AP)

WASHINGTON- President Joe Biden is denouncing the referendums underpinning Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions as a “sham” and vows that the United States will never recognize the land as Russian territory.

President Joe Biden speaks during the first U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens at left. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Speaking Thursday to Pacific island leaders in Washington, Biden said: “The so-called referenda was a sham, an absolute sham. The results were manufactured in Moscow.”

He called the hastily arranged election a “flagrant, flagrant violation of the U.N. charter.”

President Joe Biden speaks during the first U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Biden is hosting Pacific Island leaders for a two-day summit as the U.S. looks to counter China’s military and economic influence in the region. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Biden commented a day after his administration said it has concluded that Moscow falsified results of the referendums and forced people to cast ballots under duress.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. top diplomat says Washington will never recognize Russia’s planned annexation of Ukrainian territory or the legitimacy of the Moscow-orchestrated referendums that amount to a “further attempt at a land grab.”

FILE – Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks during a news conference in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2022. The Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting in Indonesia this week may well exacerbate divides over Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be there, marking the first time that he and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in the same room since January. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday the referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia don’t reflect the will of the people and are an illegitimate spectacle carried out by Russia’s “proxies” in violation of international law.

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 didn’t flee to “cast ballots at gunpoint, in fear of their safety and the safety of their loved ones.”

Police officers walk at Red Square in front of constructions reading the words ”Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Russia”, with the St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin Mausoleum in the background, ahead of a planned concert in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the four regions of Ukraine that held a referendum on joining Russia will attend a ceremony to sign documents on the regions’ incorporation into Russia, which will be followed by a big concert on Red Square. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

He reiterated President Joe Biden’s pledge that the U.S. 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.”

A Washington-based think tank says Ukrainian soldiers continue to advance around a key northeastern city occupied by Russian forces and may soon encircle it entirely.

The Institute for the Study of War, citing Russian reports, said Thursday that Ukrainian forces have taken more villages around Lyman, a city some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Institute for The Study of War Steel Lobby Sign
The Institute for the study of war- Washington

Lyman had been a key node in Russia’s front-line operations in the region before Ukrainian forces retook vast swathes of territory in the northeast earlier this month.

The institute said a possible collapse of the Lyman pocket would allow Ukrainian troops to “threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region.

People make preparations for a concert at the Red Square, with constructions reading the words ”Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Russia”, and the St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin Mausoleum on the background, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the four regions of Ukraine that held a referendum on joining Russia will attend a ceremony to sign documents on the regions’ incorporation into Russia, which will be followed by a big concert on Red Square. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The institute suggested additional Russian losses would further erode morale amid a call-up of hundreds of thousands of men — the country’s first since World War II.

PODGORICA, Montenegro — Montenegro ordered six Russian diplomats to leave the country, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

In a short statement published on Twitter, the ministry said the diplomats were asked to leave over “breaches of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” It did not elaborate.

People gather at a monument in Babi Yar ravine where Nazi troops machine-gunned tens of thousands of Jews during WWII in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Ukraine marked the 81st anniversary of the 1941 Babi Yar massacre.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)/

Montenegro was once considered a strong Russian ally, but in 2017 it joined NATO over strong opposition from Moscow. It has also joined Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has put Montenegro and most other European nations on its list of “enemy states” for acting against Kremlin’s interests.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “give negotiations another chance” and to take steps aimed at reducing tensions and leading to “more positive developments.

Turkey's
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks following a Cabinet meeting, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, May 23, 2022. Erdogan said Monday he would cease talking to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cancel a key meeting between their two countries, accusing the Greek leader of antagonistic behavior against Turkey. Erdogan accused Greece of harboring followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Turkey says was behind a 2016 failed coup attempt and of establishing military bases against Turkey. (Turkish Presidency via AP Photo)

A statement from Erdogan’s office said Thursday that the Turkish leader renewed an offer to Putin during a telephone conversation for Turkey to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv.

High-level talks in Ukraine yield little reported progress
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres shake hands after their meeting in Lviv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Erdogan also called for the extension of a UN and Turkish-negotiated deal that allows Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain through the Black Sea. The deal is scheduled to expire in November.

NATO-member Turkey has retaining its close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv.

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief says Russia’s planned annexation of four Ukrainian regions will be a “dangerous escalation” that flouts the U.N. Charter and will have “no legal value.”

UN
FILE — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses reporters during a news conference in New York, United States, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The head of the United Nations has warned the world faces ‘catastrophe’ because of the growing shortage of food around the globe. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)

In unusually strong and blunt language, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday that any annexation “stands against everything the international community is meant to stand for,” and “must not be accepted.”

The Kremlin announced that a ceremony will be held Friday to launch the process of annexing the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Guterres 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.

Nuclear treaty conference near end with Ukraine in spotlight
FILE – The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building during an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York. As 191 countries approach the end to a four-week conference to review the landmark U.N. treaty aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear weapons, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and takeover of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and rivalries between the West and China were posing key obstacles to agreement on a final document. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

He reiterated an Oct. 24, 1970 General Assembly declaration which has been repeatedly cited by the International Court of Justice, that “no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres conveyed this message to Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia during a meeting on Wednesday.

European Union- European leaders have denounced Moscow’s announcement that it will incorporate Ukraine’s occupied four regions following the Kremlin-orchestrated referendums on joining Russia, pledging that they will never recognize the move.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Office, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, second right, and Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, center, talk with local authorities against the background of the houses destroyed by the Russian shelling in Hostomel, close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. (Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Office via AP)

Czech Republic Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky whose country holds the rotating EU presidency rejected as “absolutely unacceptable” what he called the “one-sided annexation” that was the process of a “fully falsified process with no legitimacy.”

Speaking on Czech public television Thursday, Lipansky dismissed the referendums as “a theater play” and that the four regions remain Ukrainian territory.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi meets the media in Rome, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Premier Mario Draghi insisted Tuesday his government was able to continue working despite tensions with the 5-Star Movement, but he warned that it can’t function if coalition members make ultimatums. Draghi briefed reporters after meeting with unions on the government’s latest efforts to mitigate the effects of soaring inflation and high energy costs on workers, families and industries. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

According to a statement from his office Thursday, Italian Premier Mario Draghi has told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call that Italy will not recognize the illegal referendums.

Denmark
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, takes part in a coronavirus press conference, with Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke, left, and director of the National Board of Health Soeren Brostroem, right, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday Jan. 26, 2022. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen posted on Twitter that his country “will never recognize any annexation attempt.”

KYIV — Moscow has confirmed it will formally annex parts of Ukraine where occupied areas held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on joining Russia that the Ukrainian government and the West have denounced as illegal and rigged.

Cars queuing toward the border crossing at Verkhny Lars between Russia and Georgia, leaving Chmi, North Ossetia – Alania Republic, in Russia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Long lines of vehicles have formed at a border crossing between Russia’s North Ossetia region and Georgia after Moscow announced a partial military mobilization to bolster its troops in Ukraine, many Russians are leaving their homes. (AP Photo)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony in the Kremlin on Friday when four regions of Ukraine will be officially folded into Russia.

Policemen walk at Red Square with the St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin Mausoleum in the background ahead of a planned concert in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the four regions of Ukraine that held a referendum on joining Russia will attend a ceremony to sign documents on the regions’ incorporation into Russia, which will be followed by a big concert on Red Square. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up on Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation in Ukraine and after Moscow claimed residents overwhelmingly supported for their areas to formally become part of Russia.

BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday dismissed the Kremlin-orchestrated referendums in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine as a “sham.”

Baerbock told a news conference in the German capital that people are being taken “under threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint” to drop their ballots in transparent boxes.

Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock addresses the 2022 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, in the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

She denounced the vote as a “dictated peace” that’s contrary to free and fair elections and warned that no citizen is either free or safe in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories as long as “this Russian diktat” prevails there.

KYIV — Ukraine’s presidential office says that at least eight civilians have been killed and 16 others have been wounded as a result of Russian artillery, missile and rocket attacks over the past 24 hours.

People talk next to a crater created by an explosion after a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The office said Thursday casualties include two adults and a child killed by a missile strike on the city of Dnipro Wednesday. The attack injured five – including a 12 year-old girl pulled from the rubble – and damaged 60 houses, a street market and power lines.

A police officer walks past a damaged car after a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Russian shelling killed five civilians and wounded four in the eastern Donetsk region.

A Ukrainian police officer collects fragments in the crater to determine the type of ammunition after a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk say 11 people have been wounded – one seriously – after four rockets hit the city. Oleksandr Honcharenko posted on Facebook that Thursday’s early morning attack damaged high-rise buildings and private homes.

A man walks past a damaged building after a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Ukrainian military officials say the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again been struck by a Russian missile. Officials said Thursday the Kh-59 missile struck a grain depot in Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night.

People stand outside a residential building near the site of an explosion after a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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