Statement by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson - Ukraine - (30 Sep. 22)

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UKRAINE
30 September 2022

France utterly condemns President Putin’s announcement of the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into the Russian Federation. It calls on all countries committed to respect for international law to join in this condemnation.

These regions, like Crimea, are an integral part of Ukraine within its internationally-recognized borders. France will never recognize these illegal annexations or the results of the sham referendums which preceded them.

The announcement is a serious and unacceptable violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and of the United Nations Charter.

France supports the adoption of new European sanctions against Russia and those responsible for both the Russian aggression in Ukraine and these illegal annexations. By continuing the escalation of its war of aggression in order to divert attention from its defeats on the ground, Russia is sinking deeper into a military, diplomatic and political impasse. Its isolation is more apparent every day.

Neither this escalation nor this unilateral decision by Russia will in any way change the total commitment of France and its partners to support Ukraine, for as long as it takes, in its legitimate and necessary battle to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.