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WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday condemned Russia’s claimed annexation of captured Ukrainian territory, responding to Moscow’s latest escalation with a series of sanctions and a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin that the United States would defend “every inch of NATO territory from a potential attack.

Hours after Mr Putin delivered a speech asserting Russian control over four regions in eastern Ukraine, Mr Biden called the action a “fraudulent” breach of international law that showed “disregard for the peaceful nations everywhere”.

“The United States will never recognize it, and quite frankly, the world will not recognize it either,” Mr Biden said from the White House. “He can’t take his neighbor’s territory and get away with it. It’s that simple.”

World leaders have rallied behind Mr. Biden in a forceful collective denunciation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia had committed a “serious violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty” and swear on twitter to help Ukraine “recover its full sovereignty over all of its territory”.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, called Mr Putin’s decision “an illegal and illegitimate land grab” and pledged to continue helping Ukraine until it wins the aggressor.

Even among Russia’s traditional allies, no country has come forward to recognize annexation. Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, issued a statement ahead of Putin’s speech calling for ‘respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states “.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Russia’s claims by announcing he was accelerating his country’s NATO bid. In a video, he accused the Kremlin of trying to “steal something that doesn’t belong to them.”

“Ukraine will not allow this,” he said.

But Mr. Zelensky’s request to join the alliance drew a less resounding response.

“Right now, we believe the best way for us to support Ukraine is to provide hands-on, on-the-ground support in Ukraine,” said Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser.

The Biden administration’s new sanctions are aimed at further crippling Russia’s defense and technology sectors and other industries, and cutting off more top officials and their families from global commerce. These officials include two governors of Russia’s central bank.

But with Russia already under massive Western sanctions, the measures could fall short of the administration’s efforts to isolate Moscow from the world with a fresh appeal to nations that have not chosen a clear side in the conflict.

“I urge all members of the international community to reject Russia’s illegal annexation attempts and to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Biden said in a statement.

Mr Biden’s warning to Mr Putin comes amid strong suspicions by US officials that Russia was responsible for the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. The damage occurred near NATO countries in the Baltic Sea, but in international waters.

Mr Sullivan told reporters at the White House that the United States had “enhanced our surveillance and control of critical infrastructure in NATO territory”.

US officials have also long feared that Mr Putin could escalate the war with a conventional military strike against sites in Eastern European countries such as Poland and Romania, both NATO allies, which serve as transit points for weapons to Ukraine, or with cyberattacks.

The new round of sanctions fulfills the Biden administration’s long-standing wishes to punish any attempt by Russia to annex captured Ukrainian territory. But the United States has struggled to expand its coalition of nations helping Ukraine, and several world powers, including China and India, have maintained strategic partnerships with Russia and continue to enrich Moscow with purchases. of energy.

That could change if Mr. Putin decides to make his threats to use nuclear weapons more explicit. Mr. Putin has said that Russia will take all available measures to protect its territory, and some analysts have said that it could apply this threat against Ukrainian military actions in areas it has illegally annexed. Mr. Biden has forcefully warned Mr. Putin against using nuclear weapons, and some aides say they hope other world leaders will take the same message to Moscow.

After Mr. Putin made an ominous reference in his speech to the use of nuclear weapons, Mr. Sullivan told reporters that “there is a risk, given all the vague talk and the Putin’s nuclear saber,” that he might consider a nuclear strike. Analysts say it would likely take the form of a relatively small tactical nuclear weapon, either on the battlefield or as a warning shot in an unpopulated area.

Despite Mr. Putin’s latest move, the Biden administration is still refraining from taking the dramatic step to impose sanctions on international purchases of Russian energy. US officials fear driving up energy prices, particularly ahead of midterm legislative elections and as Europeans grow increasingly frustrated with domestic energy costs. Group of 7 nations officials have discussed a price cap on Russian oil purchases but have not agreed on how to implement it.

The United States and major European countries have announced a boycott of Russian oil and gas. But rising energy prices since Mr Putin’s invasion have pushed up profits for Russian companies and the central government. Besides China and India, other countries have increased their purchases of Russian oil over the past year, including NATO member Turkey.

U.S. officials say they hope that even if those countries don’t officially approve a Russian oil price cap, all buyers can use a cap to negotiate much lower prices, which would drain Russia of its revenue.

The sanctions announced on Friday added new names to the long lists of Russian officials, companies and institutions that US agencies sanctioned in the first weeks of the war.

The Treasury Department said it was enacting sanctions against 14 Russian executives and companies and international companies, including those in China, Armenia and Belarus, for supplying the Russian military.

“This action sends a clear message that international suppliers to sanctioned Russian entities and the Russian defense sector are at risk of being sanctioned,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement.

The Commerce Department has added 57 entities from Russia and Ukraine’s Crimea region, which the Russian military forcibly occupied in 2014, to what it calls the Entity List, aimed at severely limiting business transactions. US officials have said they will try to ensure business between foreign companies and those on the list is restricted. The Commerce Department now has 392 Russia-related entities on the list.

Since the winter, the Biden administration has steadily announced travel and economic sanctions against many Russian political elites, but it targeted more on Friday. The State Department has imposed visa restrictions on more than 900 Russian officials. And the Treasury Department is putting nearly 300 members of parliament on a sanctions list.

Treasury officials also named several other important figures added to the list: Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, Governor of the Central Bank of Russia; Olga Nikolaevna Skorobogatova, the bank’s first deputy governor; Aleksandr Valentinovich Nova, Deputy Prime Minister; and relatives of members of the Russian National Security Council. American agencies had already put members of the Security Council on lists.

The ruling against Ms Nabiullina could be a sign that US officials are struggling to find meaningful new targets for sanctions outside the international energy market. Ms Nabiullina has been praised by international economists and bankers for her policy decisions, and some US officials have been reluctant to put her on a sanctions list.

Daniel Tannebaum, a former Treasury official and partner at Oliver Wyman, a management consultancy, said the sanctions announced on Friday were unlikely to change Mr Putin’s calculus. “I don’t think that’s necessarily going to move the needle in terms of tightening the screws on Russia,” he said.

The Biden administration on Friday presented a resolution to the United Nations Security Council condemning the Russian territorial claim. Russia vetoed the measure and US officials said they planned to take the measure to the full UN next week.

For months, US officials have analyzed statements from major countries that have remained neutral on the war in Ukraine, or are aligned with Moscow, for any signs of daylight between them and Russia.

At the start of a meeting at a summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, last month, Mr Putin acknowledged that Chinese President Xi Jinping had “questions and concerns” about the war. And US officials say Beijing, Moscow’s most powerful partner, has refrained from providing material aid to Russia for the war.

But officials also say they see no break in this strategic partnership.

“The Chinese are toeing their line,” said Evan Medeiros, a professor at Georgetown University and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama. “And the Biden administration knows that Beijing won’t ship water for them on Russia.”

Alan Rappeport contributed report.