

and Albania will soon circulate a Security Council resolution that would condemn “the sham referenda,” call on all countries not to recognize any altered status to Ukraine, and demand an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.Įxplaining why the U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the U.S.
SHAM 69 IF THE KIDS ARE UNITED FREE
Charter.Īlbanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said the referendums are a replay of the script Russia used in Crimea, are against the Ukrainian constitution and “have nothing to do with democracy, nothing to do with free will of Ukrainians.” “Unilateral actions aimed to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the attempted acquisition by force by one state of another state’s territory, while claiming to represent the will of the people, cannot be regarded as legal under international law.”īritain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, called the referendums “illegal and illegitimate” and a violation of the Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principles of the U.N. “They cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will,” she told the council. “Any annexation in the modern world is a crime, a crime against all states that consider the inviolability of border to be vital for themselves,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine called the emergency meeting of the Security Council to respond to the referendums, and the expected annexation announcements from Russia.


Pro-Moscow officials said later Tuesday that residents in all four occupied areas of Ukraine voted to join Russia, a likely prelude to annexations possibly within days that would set the stage for a new and potentially more dangerous phase in the seven-month war following Russia’s Feb. They are widely viewed as a pretext for announcements that Russia is annexing the territories, just as it annexed Crimea in 2014. The referendums, denounced by Kyiv and its Western allies as rigged, took place in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions, and in occupied areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Security Council by video link over Russian objections, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged additional military and financial support to defend Ukraine “so the aggressor would lose,” and “clear and legally binding guarantees of collective security” for his country in response to Russia’s latest grab for Ukrainian territory. UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Ukraine’s president warned Tuesday that Russia’s just concluded “sham referendums” and attempts to annex Ukrainian territory rule out any talks with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin remains president, and called for Russia’s “complete isolation” and tough new global sanctions.
