Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday (July 19) that the US has “ample evidence” to claim that Russia plans to annex additional Ukrainian territory. As said by Kirby, the areas targeted for annexation include Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and all of Donetsk and Luhansk.
While speaking from the White House briefing room, Kirby said, “Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an annexation playbook, very similar to the one we saw in 2014.”
In 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Crimea was formally incorporated into Russia on 18 March 2014.
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Kirby said, “Already, Russia is installing illegitimate proxy officials in the areas of Ukraine that are under its control.” During his interaction with the reporters, Kirby said that Russia had plans to organize “sham referenda” in the areas it has seized. He claimed that this could happen as early as September.
“Annexation by force will be a gross violation of the UN Charter and we will not allow it to go unchallenged or unpunished,” Kirby said, adding that he was “exposing” the Russian plans “so the world knows that any purported annexation is premeditated, illegal and illegitimate.”
“We’re going to respond swiftly and severely and in lockstep with our allies and partners. We are sanctioning the Russian-installed puppets and proxies,” he said.
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Russia-Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to launch the invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “special military operation”. Putin said that the aim of the invasion was “to protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kyiv regime” and to “demilitarise and denazify Ukraine.”
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