U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, in Washington, DC, March 12, 2014. The leaders discussed the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea, in the aftermath of the removal of former PM Viktor Yanukovych from power and Russia's move into Crimea. UPI/Mike Theiler |
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WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Ukrainians are fighting for freedom and "we will never surrender," Ukrainian Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Washington Wednesday.
"My country feels that the United States stands by the Ukrainian people," Yatsenyuk said during a media availability with President Obama at the White House. "Mr. President, it's all about freedom. We fight for our freedom, we fight for our independence, we fight for our sovereignty and we will never surrender."
President Obama praised Yatsenyuk and "the courage of the Ukrainian people standing up on behalf of democracy."
Obama reiterated earlier statements that the United States and the international Community "completely reject" Sunday's referendum in autonomous, pro-Russia Crimea, adding if the vote went forward, and Russia does not back away from its military incursion into Crimea, the international community would be "forced to apply a cost to Russia's violation of international law."
The international community has been clear it believes the increased Russian military presence Crimea beyond its bases violates international laws and agreements that Russia signed and violates the "territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."
"There's another path available and we hope President [Vladimir] Putin is willing to seize that path," Obama said. "But if he does not, I'm very confident that the international community will stand firmly behind the Ukrainian government."
While all would recognize the historic ties between Russia and Ukraine, Obama said Yatsenyuk and the government in Kiev communicated to Russia their desire to work through these ties diplomatically.
"But what the prime minister I think has rightly insisted on is they cannot have a country outside of Ukraine dictate to them how they should arrange their affairs, and that there is a constitutional process in place and a set of elections that they can move forward on that in fact could lead to different arrangements over time with the Crimean region," Obama said.
"But," Obama said, "that is not something that can be done with the barrel of a gun pointed at you."
