The United States will never accept the referendums held by Russia in the seized regions of Ukraine, according to President Joe Biden.
The US will continue to cooperate with allies to "impose extra fast and harsh economic sanctions on Russia," according to the President.
Biden Vows to Impose Harsher Sanctions on Russia
According to the statement, "The United States stands with our allies throughout the world - and with every country that respects the core tenets of the UN charter - in rejecting whatever falsified outcomes Russia may declare."
Russia's separatist leaders said four Russian-occupied regions started holding referendums on joining Russia on Friday, raising the stakes of Moscow's incursion, as per CNN.
The referendums, which are against international law and are denounced as fakes by Western nations and Kyiv, might lead to Russian annexation of the regions, giving Moscow the opportunity to portray the continuing Ukrainian counteroffensive as an attack on Russia.
Additionally, Biden charged that Russia had "shamelessly" broken a fundamental principle of the UN charter that forbade invading another nation with force. As Russia makes measures to modernize its military, Biden said the annual meeting of world leaders that all the UN stands for is at stake if Russia can seize another country by force.
Biden's involvement in successfully managing the Ukrainian situation has contributed to his increased worldwide status, USA Today reported. It is a significant shift from the position he took in last year's debut United Nations speech, which was given just after the tumultuous US pullout from Afghanistan.
Yet despite the praises he has received for assembling a coalition in favor of Ukraine, he still has to deal with a number of international issues, such as maintaining pressure on Russia while its conflict with its neighbor rages on and Europe gears up to withstand a winter without Russian gas.
In a televised speech to his country on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is not present at the meeting, declared a partial military mobilization as Ukraine's counteroffensive pushed his invading soldiers back near the Russian border.
US Warns China Against Helping Russia
In the meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday during a meeting in New York on the fringes of the UN General Assembly against Beijing lending any help to Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.
Although China continues to have close connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it has refrained from publicly applauding the invasion and from taking any acts that would put it in a position where it would be seen as transgressing international sanctions against Russia.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, said that Blinken "reiterated the United States' disapproval of Russia's conflict against Ukraine and underscored the repercussions if the PRC [People's Republic of China] were to offer support to Moscow's invasion of a sovereign state."
Per The Hill, Price added in the statement that Blinken emphasized the need of the US keeping lines of communication open with Beijing in order to defuse tensions. As a result of President Biden's comments in an interview released on Sunday that the US would support Taiwan if China wanted to attack, tensions between Washington and Beijing have increased since the meeting.
The Chinese, who see the island as a rebel region that would inevitably unite with the mainland, are enraged by the US stance toward Taiwan and Biden's repeated claims that American military will defend the democratic island.
Over a number of security, military, geopolitical, economic, and environmental issues, relations between Washington and Beijing have continued to deteriorate. The two senior diplomats stressed the need of maintaining contact on the most challenging topics at their most recent meeting, which took place on July 9 in Bali, Indonesia, after a gathering of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20.
Related Article: Moscow-Controlled Areas in Ukraine Start Referendum on Joining Russia Amid International Criticism
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