WASHINGTON — Russia faced mounting pressure and economic sanctions over the Ukraine crisis on Wednesday as the United States and allies coordinated punishments and denounced the beginning of an “invasion of Ukraine.”
After the United States and others imposed penalties, Australia, Canada and Japan joined in similar efforts to thwart the Kremlin’s advances, with Western officials confirming that Russian forces had begun crossing the Ukrainian border. In less than a day, nations have halted a key natural gas pipeline for Russia, limited its access to global financing and hampered the country’s elite.
With their condemnations, global leaders sent the same message: Russia was violating international law and the sovereignty of Ukraine.
“Australians always stand up to bullies, and we will be standing up to Russia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said while announcing sanctions on Wednesday.
In rolling out penalties, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada called Russia’s actions “a threat to the security and stability of the region and the international rules-based order.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United States responded defiantly to the sanctions, saying that the country was used to living under restrictions from the West and that the new penalties would hurt global financial and energy markets as well as Americans.
“It is hard to imagine that there is a person in Washington who expects Russia to revise its foreign policy under a threat of restrictions,” the ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, said on Facebook.
Ukraine welcomed the measures but called for even tougher restrictions against the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
The global response began early Tuesday, just hours after Mr. Putin recognized the self-declared separatist states in eastern Ukraine and Russian forces started rolling into their territory, according to NATO, European Union and White House officials. It was the first major deployment of Russian troops across the internationally recognized border since the current crisis began.
As Russia has ramped up its military preparations, President Biden has been resolute that Mr. Putin will face severe consequences for his actions, which the Russian state news media has portrayed as a rightful response to American aggression.
“Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?” Mr. Biden said on Tuesday.
He warned Mr. Putin that more penalties would follow if the Russian leader did not withdraw his forces and engage in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
But that prospect is growing increasingly dim, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken canceled plans to meet with Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday, saying that it did not “make sense” to hold talks while Russian forces are on the move.
“To put it simply, Russia just announced that it is carving out a big chunk of Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said, adding, “He’s setting up a rationale to take more territory by force.”
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday urged Ukrainian citizens not to travel to Russia, and recommended that those inside Russia “leave its territory immediately.”
