Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognizing them as independent on Monday, accelerating a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.
Tanks and other military hardware are moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk after Putin issued a decree recognizing the breakaway regions and told Russia’s defence ministry to send in forces to keep the peace, reports Reuters.
The moves drew the US and European condemnation and vows of new sanctions although it was unclear whether it was Putin’s first major step toward a full-scale offensive in Ukraine that Western governments have warned about for weeks.
A senior US official said the deployment to breakaway enclaves already controlled by separatists loyal to Moscow did not yet constitute a ‘further invasion’ that would trigger the harshest sanctions, but that a wider military campaign could come at any time.
There was no word on the size of the force Putin was dispatching, but the decree said Russia now had the right to build military bases in the breakaway regions.
In a lengthy televised address packed with grievances against the West, a visibly angry Putin described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia’s history and said eastern Ukraine was ancient Russian lands.
Russian state television showed Putin, joined by Russia-backed separatist leaders, signing a decree recognizing the independence of the two Ukrainian breakaway regions - the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic - along with agreements on cooperation and friendship.
Defying Western warnings against such a move, Putin had announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France earlier, the Kremlin said.
Moscow’s action may well torpedo a last-minute bid for a summit with US President Joe Biden to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine, which the senior US official said was now in doubt.
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