Police watchdog called in
Mayor calls 'BS' on list
U.S. authorities find bodies
Premier stands by pick
Canada's most-wanted list
Sask. will still get rebates
Santos ends comeback bid
Douglas C-54 plane crashes
Trump's 'eyes and ears'
US TikTok ban sent to Biden
Phish fans enter the Sphere
CN Rail profits fall 
Warriors snakebitten in loss
Iginla off to Europe
Rockets ink prospect
Alleged Tupac killer in court
Lawsuit accuses Megan
Bam Margera’s tour axed
President Barack Obama is hosting the new Ukrainian prime minister at the White House, a gesture aimed at rebuking Russia and cementing the West's allegiance to Ukraine's fledgling government.
The meeting Wednesday between Obama and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk comes as a pro-Russian area of Ukraine readies for a referendum Sunday to determine its future. Voters in the Crimean Peninsula will be given two options: becoming part of Russia, or remaining in Ukraine with broader powers.
Ahead of the meeting, the U.S. and the other nations in the Group of Seven released a joint statement declaring that they would not recognize the results of the referendum.
"We call on the Russian Federation to immediately halt actions supporting a referendum on the territory of Crimea regarding its status, in direct violation of the constitution of Ukraine," the statement read. "Any such referendum would have no legal effect."
The dispute over the future of the former Soviet republic has conjured up echoes of the Cold War tensions between East and West.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Yatsenyuk's visit was meant to signal "that we strongly support Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian government."
Amid the symbolism of Yatsenyuk's visit to the U.S., the Ukrainian leader will also be seeking financial assistance from Washington. Yatsenyuk says his country needs the West's help to defend itself against neighbouring Russia, a nation he said is "armed to the teeth."
Ukraine's parliament installed Yatsenyuk as head of the country's interim government after pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital of Kyiv following three months of popular protests. The uprising started when Yanukovych rejected a planned partnership agreement with the European Union in favour of historical ties with Moscow.
Days after Yanukovych left Kyiv, Russia moved military forces into Crimea, defying warnings from the U.S. Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far brushed aside punishments levied by the West following the incursion, including visa bans, the threat of economic sanctions and a halt to planning for an international economic summit Russia is scheduled to host in June.
