Ukraine applies to join NATO

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

Putin illegally annexes 4 occupied regions; Ukraine applies to join NATO

Kyiv has vowed to keep fighting to retake its occupied land, and on Friday appeared on the verge of handing Russia’s military another significant setback.

www.nbcnews.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the biggest annexation of territory in postwar Europe on Friday, claiming control over swaths of Ukraine in defiance of international law and in spite of his forces facing another significant battlefield setback.
The speech was met with immediate defiance by Kyiv, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcing minutes later that he was submitting his country’s formal application to join NATO, the Western military alliance Putin has framed his war as a struggle against.

In the Kremlin, the Russian leader held a grand ceremony in which he vowed to use "all available means" to defend the four regions he was co-opting, a repeat of the nuclear threats he has used to escalate the seven-month war alongside his call-up of military reservists.
“This is the will of millions of people,” Putin said Friday, words that few outside Russia see as credible for a move condemned in the West as a brazen and illegal land grab. "They made their choice to be with their people, to be with their motherland."
His speech was followed by Moscow-installed leaders of the four areas of southern and eastern Ukraine signing documents proclaiming them part of Russia, before joining hands with Putin and singing the national anthem.

Minutes later, Zelenskyy posted a surprise online video announcing, "We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO."

Joining the alliance has been a goal of Kyiv's for years, and would give it the protection of collective defense promised by Washington and others. In reality, a number of hurdles stand in its way.

Nevertheless the United States and others have promised to retaliate against Russia's annexation with sanctions, while Kyiv has vowed to keep fighting to retake its occupied land. The annexation was also overshadowed by a deadly attack on a civilian convoy in the country's south.

Leaders of the European Union issued a statement after Putin's speech saying they "reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia" which not only violated Ukraine's rights, but also put "global security at risk."

It comes after votes were staged in the four regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, that were widely criticized as rigged and preordained. Russian-installed local officials were accompanied by armed personnel going door to door.

As well as announcing the annexation, Putin has partially mobilized his military — prompting domestic blowback and an exodus of Russians fleeing the draft — and ramped up his nuclear threats against Ukraine and the West.

The moves are seen as a wider escalation after a series of punishing battlefield defeats at the hands of a lightning counteroffensive by Kyiv.

Putin delivered his barnstorming speech Friday to hundreds of officials and other dignitaries, some in suits, some in military uniforms, at a lavish ceremony under the giant, gold chandeliers of Georgievsky Hall, in the Great Kremlin Palace.

After briefly welcoming the four new regions, he went on to discuss centuries of Russian history in which he railed against Western "colonialism" and "satanism," drawing a standing ovation.

The packed audience had earlier stood for a minute’s silence as Putin hailed the Russian “heroes” who have died in the war, which he calls a “special military operation.”

A stage was set up in Moscow with giant video screens and billboards proclaiming the four areas part of Russia. The Kremlin will celebrate its claim over what amounts to as much as 15% of Ukraine, with a pop concert on the city’s iconic Red Square.

But underscoring the disconnect between Friday’s ceremonies and the ongoing chaos and bloodshed of the war, hours earlier a missile attack on a convoy of cars traveling from Ukrainian-held land in Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied areas killed at least 23 people, local officials said.

It was also clear that annexation does not mean control.

Thousands of Russian troops in the strategic city of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region were on the verge of being encircled by Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based military think tank, and other observers.

Rob Lee, a military analyst chronicling the conflict, tweeted Thursday that the Lyman “pocket” could collapse at any time, which would “overshadow the annexation announcement.”

It was unclear whether Putin was laying claim to all of the four regions, or just those parts firmly controlled by his military.

In an address on the eve of the ceremony, Zelenskyy appealed to Russians directly.

The annexation “can still be stopped,” he said. “But to stop it, we have to stop that person in Russia who wants war more than life — your lives, citizens of Russia."

President Joe Biden says he will never recognize the results, which he said Thursday were "a sham, an absolute sham." Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, called it a “dangerous escalation” and a violation of the U.N. charter.

The Biden administration is expected to respond Friday morning to the annexation by announcing “new economic costs” on Russia, a White House official told NBC News.

Western governments, officials and experts have openly regretted not responding with tougher measures when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.









@White and Green with M/S @F-22Raptor @Oldman1 @UKBengali @gambit @Ich @jamahir @jamal18 @Hack-Hook @Vergennes @Song Hong @Ali_Baba @bobo6661 @KAL-EL @thetutle @925boy @FuturePAF @mazeto @CAPRICORN-88 @sammuel @Wood @nang2 @Messerschmitt @mmr @Philip the Arab @Apollon @Philip the Arab @Hassan Al-Somal @Viet @Get Ya Wig Split @A.P. Richelieu @letsrock @PakFactor @RescueRanger @ZeGerman @zartosht @Paul2 @Corax @mike2000 is back @Broccoli @oberschlesier @MeFishToo @Gomig-21 @Foinikas @aziqbal @libertad @Akritas @aviator_fan @Beny Karachun @Beast @dbc @Hamartia Antidote @beijingwalker @MH.Yang @nahtanbob @Primus @Sifar zero @RoadAmerica @khansaheeb @Zarvan @Reashot Xigwin @1ndy @Battlion25 @dBSPL @PakAlp @Path-Finder @Meengla @VCheng @Piotr @ziaulislam @SecularNationalist @K_Bin_W @_Nabil_

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

Russia is going to be balkanized in the next few months.

Putin illegally annexes 4 occupied regions; Ukraine applies to join NATO

Kyiv has vowed to keep fighting to retake its occupied land, and on Friday appeared on the verge of handing Russia’s military another significant setback.

www.nbcnews.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the biggest annexation of territory in postwar Europe on Friday, claiming control over swaths of Ukraine in defiance of international law and in spite of his forces facing another significant battlefield setback.
The speech was met with immediate defiance by Kyiv, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcing minutes later that he was submitting his country’s formal application to join NATO, the Western military alliance Putin has framed his war as a struggle against.

In the Kremlin, the Russian leader held a grand ceremony in which he vowed to use "all available means" to defend the four regions he was co-opting, a repeat of the nuclear threats he has used to escalate the seven-month war alongside his call-up of military reservists.
“This is the will of millions of people,” Putin said Friday, words that few outside Russia see as credible for a move condemned in the West as a brazen and illegal land grab. "They made their choice to be with their people, to be with their motherland."
His speech was followed by Moscow-installed leaders of the four areas of southern and eastern Ukraine signing documents proclaiming them part of Russia, before joining hands with Putin and singing the national anthem.

Minutes later, Zelenskyy posted a surprise online video announcing, "We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO."

Joining the alliance has been a goal of Kyiv's for years, and would give it the protection of collective defense promised by Washington and others. In reality, a number of hurdles stand in its way.

Nevertheless the United States and others have promised to retaliate against Russia's annexation with sanctions, while Kyiv has vowed to keep fighting to retake its occupied land. The annexation was also overshadowed by a deadly attack on a civilian convoy in the country's south.

Leaders of the European Union issued a statement after Putin's speech saying they "reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia" which not only violated Ukraine's rights, but also put "global security at risk."

It comes after votes were staged in the four regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, that were widely criticized as rigged and preordained. Russian-installed local officials were accompanied by armed personnel going door to door.

As well as announcing the annexation, Putin has partially mobilized his military — prompting domestic blowback and an exodus of Russians fleeing the draft — and ramped up his nuclear threats against Ukraine and the West.

The moves are seen as a wider escalation after a series of punishing battlefield defeats at the hands of a lightning counteroffensive by Kyiv.

Putin delivered his barnstorming speech Friday to hundreds of officials and other dignitaries, some in suits, some in military uniforms, at a lavish ceremony under the giant, gold chandeliers of Georgievsky Hall, in the Great Kremlin Palace.

After briefly welcoming the four new regions, he went on to discuss centuries of Russian history in which he railed against Western "colonialism" and "satanism," drawing a standing ovation.

The packed audience had earlier stood for a minute’s silence as Putin hailed the Russian “heroes” who have died in the war, which he calls a “special military operation.”

A stage was set up in Moscow with giant video screens and billboards proclaiming the four areas part of Russia. The Kremlin will celebrate its claim over what amounts to as much as 15% of Ukraine, with a pop concert on the city’s iconic Red Square.

But underscoring the disconnect between Friday’s ceremonies and the ongoing chaos and bloodshed of the war, hours earlier a missile attack on a convoy of cars traveling from Ukrainian-held land in Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied areas killed at least 23 people, local officials said.

It was also clear that annexation does not mean control.

Thousands of Russian troops in the strategic city of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region were on the verge of being encircled by Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based military think tank, and other observers.

Rob Lee, a military analyst chronicling the conflict, tweeted Thursday that the Lyman “pocket” could collapse at any time, which would “overshadow the annexation announcement.”

It was unclear whether Putin was laying claim to all of the four regions, or just those parts firmly controlled by his military.

In an address on the eve of the ceremony, Zelenskyy appealed to Russians directly.

The annexation “can still be stopped,” he said. “But to stop it, we have to stop that person in Russia who wants war more than life — your lives, citizens of Russia."

President Joe Biden says he will never recognize the results, which he said Thursday were "a sham, an absolute sham." Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, called it a “dangerous escalation” and a violation of the U.N. charter.

The Biden administration is expected to respond Friday morning to the annexation by announcing “new economic costs” on Russia, a White House official told NBC News.

Western governments, officials and experts have openly regretted not responding with tougher measures when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.









@White and Green with M/S @F-22Raptor @Oldman1 @UKBengali @gambit @Ich @jamahir @jamal18 @Hack-Hook @Vergennes @Song Hong @Ali_Baba @bobo6661 @KAL-EL @thetutle @925boy @FuturePAF @mazeto @CAPRICORN-88 @sammuel @Wood @nang2 @Messerschmitt @mmr @Philip the Arab @Apollon @Philip the Arab @Hassan Al-Somal @Viet @Get Ya Wig Split @A.P. Richelieu @letsrock @PakFactor @RescueRanger @ZeGerman @zartosht @Paul2 @Corax @mike2000 is back @Broccoli @oberschlesier @MeFishToo @Gomig-21 @Foinikas @aziqbal @libertad @Akritas @aviator_fan @Beny Karachun @Beast @dbc @Hamartia Antidote @beijingwalker @MH.Yang @nahtanbob @Primus @Sifar zero @RoadAmerica @khansaheeb @Zarvan @Reashot Xigwin @1ndy @Battlion25 @dBSPL @PakAlp @Path-Finder @Meengla @VCheng @Piotr @ziaulislam @SecularNationalist @K_Bin_W @_Nabil_

Next on the list are Moldova and Georgia.