Fox’s Jennifer Griffin Delivers Sobering Analysis of Putin’s ‘Dangerous Escalation’ in Ukraine: He ‘May Have Just Changed the Course of World History’

Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin delivered a sobering analysis of Russian President Vladimir Putin “illegally annexing parts of Ukraine” — saying that the Russian leader’s latest maneuver  “may have just changed the course of world history.”

“Understandably all eyes in the US are on the terrible destruction from the hurricane in Florida but what Putin just did illegally annexing parts of Ukraine may have just changed the course of world history, setting off a dangerous escalation with no off ramp,” she tweeted on Friday.

Understandably all eyes in the US are on the terrible destruction from the hurricane in Florida but what Putin just did illegally annexing parts of Ukraine may have just changed the course of world history, setting off a dangerous escalation with no off ramp. https://t.co/DGy3rrZnTV

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) September 30, 2022

Putin declared on Friday that four Ukrainian regions – Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk – or 15 percent of the country as part of Russia. Referenda that have been decried as illegitimate by the West were taken in those oblasts.

“The citizens of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhia, and Kherson have become our citizens forever,” said Putin.

Putin said that Russia will never surrender those oblasts. “There is no turning back, Russia will not let them down,” he said, adding, “We shall defend our territory with all means available to us.”

The United States has said it wouldn’t recognize the annexation and blasted Russia.

“The Kremlin’s sham referenda are a futile effort to mask what amounts to a further attempt at a land grab in Ukraine. To be clear: the results were orchestrated in Moscow and do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a Thursday statement. “The United States does not, and will never, recognize the legitimacy or outcome of these sham referenda or Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory. This spectacle conducted by Russia’s proxies is illegitimate and violates international law. It is an affront to the principles of international peace and security.”

In a statement, the European Union blasted Russia over the referenda and annexation:

We firmly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. By willfully 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 recognize 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 recognize this illegal annexation. These decisions are null and void and cannot produce any legal effect whatsoever. Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukraine.

Crimea was annexed in 2014. The United States has threatened sanctions against Russia were it to do the annexation.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!