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| Photo Credit: AP. |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) —Putin illegally annexes Ukraine land; Kyiv seeks NATO entry
Putin vowed
to protect newly annexed regions of Ukraine by “all available means,” a renewed
nuclear-backed threat he made at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also
railed furiously against the West, accusing the United States and its allies of
seeking Russia’s destruction.
Zelenskyy
then held his own signing ceremony in Kyiv, releasing video of him putting pen
to papers he said were a formal NATO membership request.
Putin has
repeatedly made clear that any prospect of Ukraine joining the military
alliance is one of his red lines and cited it as a justification for his
invasion, now in its eighth month, in Europe’s biggest land war since World War
II.
In his
speech, Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for peace talks but insisted he won’t
discuss handing back occupied regions. Zelenskyy said there’d be no
negotiations with Putin.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
“We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but
… with another president of Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said.
At his
signing ceremony in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall, Putin accused the
West of fueling the hostilities to turn Russia into a “colony” and a “crowd of
soulless slaves.” The hardening of his position, in the conflict that has
killed and wounded tens of thousands of people, further raised tensions already
at levels unseen since the Cold War.
Global
leaders, including those from the Group of Seven leading economies, responded
with an avalanche of condemnation. The U.S. and the U.K. announced more
sanctions, and the U.N. Security Council scheduled discussions about the
developments later Friday.
U.S.
President Joe Biden said of Putin’s annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson
and Zaporizhzhia regions: “Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy.”
“America and
its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and
threats,” Biden added, noting that the Russian leader “can’t seize his
neighbor’s territory and get away with it.”
The European
Union said its 27 member states will never recognize the illegal referendums
that Russia organized “as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine’s
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called it “the largest attempted annexation
of European territory by force since the Second World War.”
The war is
at “a pivotal moment,” he said, and Putin’s decision to annex more territory –
Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine – marks “the most serious
escalation since the start of the war.” Stoltenberg was noncommittal on
Zelenskyy’s fast-track NATO application, saying alliance leaders “support
Ukraine’s right to choose its own path, to decide what kind of security arrangements
it wants to be part of.”
Dmitry Medvedev,
deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Zelenskyy’s move toward the
military alliance amounts to “begging NATO to accelerate the start of World War
III.”
Zelenskyy
vowed to keep fighting, defying Putin’s warnings that Kyiv shouldn’t try to recapture
what it has lost.
“The entire
territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy,” he said. “Russia
already knows this. It feels our power.”
The
immediate ramifications of the “accelerated” NATO application weren’t clear,
since approval requires members’ unanimous support. The supply of Western
weapons to Ukraine has, however, already put it closer to the alliance’s orbit.
“De facto,
we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards,” Zelenskyy said.
“We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other.”
The Kremlin
ceremony came three days after the completion in the occupied regions of
Moscow-orchestrated “referendums” on joining Russia that Kyiv and the West
dismissed as a blatant land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies. In his
fiery speech, Putin insisted Ukraine treat the votes “with respect.”
As the
ceremony concluded, the Moscow-installed leaders of the occupied regions
gathered around Putin, linked hands and chanted “Russia! Russia!” with the
audience.
Putin cut an
angry figure as he accused the United States and its allies of seeking to
destroy Russia. He said the West acted “as a parasite” and used its financial
and technological strength “to rob the entire world.”
He portrayed
Russia as pursuing a historical mission to reclaim its post-Soviet great power
status and counter Western domination he said is collapsing.
“History has called us to a battlefield to
fight for our people, for the grand historic Russia, for future generations,”
he said.
Moscow has
backed eastern Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions since they
declared independence in 2014, weeks after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s
Crimean Peninsula. Russia captured the southern Kherson region and part of
neighboring Zaporizhzhia soon after Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The
Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament will meet next week to rubber-stamp the
annexation treaties, sending them to Putin for final approval.
The orchestrated
process went into a celebratory phase Friday night, with thousands gathered in
Red Square for a concert and rally that Putin joined. Many waved Russian flags
as entertainers from Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine performed patriotic
songs. Russian media reported employees of state-run companies and institutions
were told to attend, and students were allowed to skip classes.
Putin’s land
grab and a partial troop mobilization were attempts to avoid more battlefield
defeats that could threaten his 22-year rule. By formalizing Russia’s gains, he
seemingly hopes to scare Ukraine and its Western backers by threatening to
escalate the conflict unless they back down — which they show no signs of
doing.
Russia
controls most of the Luhansk and Kherson regions, about 60% of the Donetsk
region and a large chunk of the Zaporizhzhia region, where it seized Europe’s
largest nuclear power plant.
But the
Kremlin is on the verge of another stinging military loss, with reports of the
imminent Ukrainian encirclement of the eastern city of Lyman. Retaking it could
open the path for Ukraine to push deep into Luhansk, one of the annexed
regions.
“It looks
quite pathetic. Ukrainians are doing something, taking steps in the real
material world, while the Kremlin is building some kind of a virtual reality,
incapable of responding in the real world,” former Kremlin
speechwriter-turned-analyst Abbas Gallyamov said, adding that “the Kremlin
cannot offer anything сomforting to the Russians.”
Russia
pounded Ukrainian cities with missiles, rockets and suicide drones in Moscow’s
heaviest barrage in weeks, with one strike in the Zaporizhzhia region’s capital
killing 30 and wounding 88.
In the
Zaporizhzhia attack, anti-aircraft missiles that Russia has repurposed as
ground-attack weapons rained down on people waiting in cars to cross into
Russian-occupied territory so they could bring family members back across front
lines, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
Russian-installed
officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces, but gave no evidence.
The strike
left deep craters and sent shrapnel tearing into the humanitarian convoy,
killing passengers. Nearby buildings were demolished. Bodies were later covered
with trash bags, blankets and, for one victim, a blood-soaked towel.
A Ukrainian
counteroffensive has deprived Moscow of battlefield mastery. Its hold on the
Luhansk region appears increasingly shaky, as Ukrainian forces make inroads
with the pincer assault on Lyman, a key node for Russian military operations in
the Donbas and a sought-after prize. The Russian-backed separatist leader of
Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said Ukrainian forces have “half-encircled” Lyman.
Ukraine maintains a large foothold in the neighboring Donetsk region.
Russian
strikes were also reported in the city of Dnipro. Regional Gov. Valentyn
Reznichenko said at least three people were killed and five were wounded.
Ukraine’s
air force said the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa were targeted with
Iranian-supplied suicide drones that Russia has increasingly deployed.
Follow the
AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine