Biden asserts that the US won't be scared by Putin.

Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has issued a warning to Russia after Vladimir Putin annexed four occupied regions of Ukraine, saying that the US would not be intimidated by careless threats.

Putin appeared to threaten to use nuclear weapons to protect the newly seized lands in a subliminal manner.

The regions, according to him, would "forever" be a part of Russia.

The annexation was described by Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as "the most severe escalation since the beginning of the war."

The Russian president asserted in a speech that voters in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk chose to stand "with their people, their motherland."

He was alluding to so-called referendums that had recently taken place in the regions but which had been denounced as fake by the governments of Ukraine and the West.

But Mr. Putin railed against the West for a large portion of his speech.

He claimed that by using nuclear weapons on Japan at the close of World War Two in an apparent threat, the US had set a "precedent."

Last week, Mr. Putin declared that his nation has "a variety of weapons of destruction" and would "use all of the tools at our disposal," adding, "I'm not bluffing."

The Kremlin has made it plain that any assault on the recently acquired regions would be interpreted as an assault on Russian territory, escalating the conflict.

While criticizing Vladimir Putin for his "reckless comments and threats," President Biden emphasized that Mr. Putin "wasn't going to intimidate us."

President Biden declared at the White House that "America and her allies are not going to be frightened."

He then pointed his finger squarely into the camera and addressed the Russian president.

He referred to the Western security alliance by saying, "America is absolutely prepared, with our Nato friends, to defend every single inch of Nato territory."

Don't misunderstand me, Mr. Putin: I'm saying every inch.

A short while later, Mr. Biden's senior national security adviser stated that although Moscow could potentially use nuclear weapons, there did not seem to be an immediate threat.

Soon after Mr. Putin's statement, Ukraine started a new, fast-track application process to join NATO.

Ukraine has long been a "de facto" member of the security alliance, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, who also charged Moscow with redrawing borders "using murder, extortion, maltreatment, and lies."

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declined to comment on the proposal, stating the organization's 30 members should make that decision.

According to Mr. Stoltenberg, the alliance's members "do not and will not" acknowledge any of the annexed territory as being a part of Russia. He also accused Mr. Putin of engaging in "irresponsible nuclear sabre-rattling."

He referred to the war's annexation as a "pivotal moment."

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, asserted that "the illegitimate annexation announced by Putin won't change anything."

"All lands seized by Russian invaders illegally are Ukrainian territory, and they will always be a part of our sovereign country."

South Korea stated that it did not recognize the annexations and emphasized the need to uphold Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence.

The Ukrainian military was encircling Mr. Putin's forces in Lyman, a strategically significant town in the eastern province of Donetsk, one of four districts that Russia has annexed, as he spoke in Moscow, 750 kilometers (466 miles) to the south.

Ukraine's military has been keen to conceal the pace of its troops' advance in the area, but one video on social media appeared to show Kyiv's forces in the town of Yampil, just 16km (9 miles) south-east of Lyman.

The village of Drobysheve, located 8 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Lyman, was captured, according to the Kyiv defense ministry late on Friday night.

In another incident, a Russian rocket attack on a truck of civilians in Zaporizhzhia resulted in the deaths of about 30 Ukrainians.

A UN Security Council resolution that would have denounced Russia's annexation of the four occupied regions was vetoed at the same time. Vasily Nebenzia, the ambassador for Moscow, lamented that it was unprecedented to ask for the body's permanent member to be condemned.

China and India both chose not to vote, however the Kremlin's decision to oppose the motion was expected.