Western leaders warned Russia on Tuesday against any annexation of Ukrainian territory and once again offered their support for the city of Kyiv, which has been facing an invasion by Moscow’s forces for nearly seven months.
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They were collected by video as part of the “Crimea Platform” summit, a formula that brings together the main countries supporting Ukraine and created by Kyiv before the war that broke out on February 24.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for “there is no weakness, no spirit of compromise” in the face of Russia, again calling on Moscow “to stop hostilities, withdraw its forces from all Ukrainian lands and opt for diplomacy to rebuild peace.”
We condemn Russia. “We will never recognize any attempt to change the status of any part of Ukraine,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
He denounced “the unjustified Russian aggression against Ukraine”, and promised to continue sanctions against Moscow and to send new military aid to Kyiv, including anti-aircraft defense systems.
While pro-Russian officials in the occupied territories raised the idea of holding a referendum on joining Russia, as happened in Crimea in 2014, Mr. Schulz insisted that “no sham referendum or other attempts to change the status of certain parts of Ukrainian territory will not be recognized.” .
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson estimated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “wanted to do to all of Ukraine what he did to Crimea,” a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 after the intervention of its own forces and an association referendum denounced by Kyiv. Westerners.
We cannot allow borders to be changed by force of arms. “We will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukraine,” he added.
Johnson, like his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, promised to continue providing assistance to Kyiv and the policy of sanctions against Moscow until “Russia ends the war and withdraws its forces.”
