Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly ordered troops into separatist-held parts of eastern Ukraine in what he called a “peacekeeping” mission.
According to CNN, the order came just hours after he signed decrees recognising the independence of the Moscow-backed regions.
The decrees signed by Putin conveyed Moscow’s official recognition over two breakaway territories in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine — the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic (DPR and LPR).
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The decrees recognised them as independent states and guaranteed their security with Russian troops. The decrees also said the Russian peacekeeping forces would be deployed in the regions.
In his speech on Monday, Putin decried Kyiv’s growing security ties with the west, adding that “Ukraine has never had traditions of its own statehood”. He also called the eastern part of the country “ancient Russian lands”.
“I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago – to immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Putin said.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, reportedly told an emergency meeting of the UN security council on Monday evening that Putin’s recognition of the pro-Moscow regions was an “attempt to create a pretext for a further invasion”.
She said his claim that Russian forces are entering those regions as ‘peacekeepers’ is ‘nonsense’.
“We know what they really are,” Thomas-Greenfield said.