Russian President Vladimir Putin's martial law orders in the areas Moscow claims to have annexed are "desperate tactics to try to enforce and control", US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said, as reported by CNN.
"It should be no surprise to anybody that Russia is resorting to desperate tactics to try and enforce control in these areas," Patel said at a State Department briefing.
"The truth is that Russia is not wanted in these regions, and the people in Ukraine are rejecting Russia's illegal invasion and seizure by force of what is Ukrainian territory," he said.
Patel stressed that "no matter what the Kremlin says or does, no matter what they try to enact via decree via paper or otherwise, Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya are Ukrainian sovereign territory".
"They have no legal claim whatsoever. There is no jurisdiction that they have over those territories. This is Ukraine's land and Russia has blatantly violated Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as violating UN Charter with their illegal acts," he said.