U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
"The United States condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere."
"Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy. The United States will always honor Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders."
"We will rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable."
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, IN VIDEO RELEASED AFTER ANNEXATION CEREMONY
"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.""Ukraine is ready for negotiations, but with a different Russian president."
SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER MAGDALENA ANDERSSON
"It's nothing but a complete farce."
"We condemn the illegal annexation in the strongest terms."
POLISH FOREIGN MINISTRY
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns in the strongest terms the illegal acts of 'recognition of independence' and 'incorporation' into the Russian Federation of parts of Ukraine's regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia".
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER LIZ TRUSS, IN A STATEMENT RELEASED EARLIER FRIDAY
"Putin cannot be allowed to alter international borders using brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war."
"Putin has, once again, acted in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent."
"The UK will never ignore the sovereign will of those people and we will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as anything other than Ukrainian territory."
DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE
"The Netherlands will never recognize this annexation, just as we don't recognise the annexation of Crimea."
GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY
"The decision is illegal as it violates blatantly international law and it is void."
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN
"The illegal annexation proclaimed by Putin won’t change anything. All territories illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land and will always be part of this sovereign nation."
ITALY'S GIORGIA MELONI
Russian President Vladimir Putin "once again demonstrates his Soviet-style, neo-imperialist vision that threatens the security of the entire European continent."
STATEMENT BY MEMBERS OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL
"We firmly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
"By wilfully undermining the rules-based international order and blatantly violating the fundamental rights of Ukraine to independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, core principles as enshrined in the UN Charter and international law, Russia is putting global security at risk.
"We do not and will never recognise the illegal 'referenda' that Russia has engineered as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor their falsified and illegal results. We will never recognise this illegal annexation."
(Editing by Toby Chopra)
