Donetsk

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has recognized the independence of two separatist regions in Ukraine, a move many fear may be the spark for a Russian ...

More than 13,000 people have died in fighting in the region since. Ukraine would likely interpret that as Russian troops entering Ukrainian territory. RUSSIA

Russian president Vladimir Putin has recognised the independence of two Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, a step that could greatly ...

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said last week that recognition would represent “a blatant violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” and breach international law. It has given out passports and citizenship to about 800,000 of their citizens, Russian officials said on Monday, while stressing the need for the Kremlin to protect them. That would likely increase the risk of full conflict between Moscow and Kyiv along an already active front line. Ukraine has denied this and said Russia was trying to use the allegation — and renewed hostilities by its proxies — as a pretext for a renewed invasion. Ukraine and western countries have said there was evidence that Russia had been providing weapons and fighters to fuel the separatist war, which Moscow denies. Nato and the EU have warned that recognition of the breakaway regions would be a big escalation in the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, while some European officials have called for it to be a trigger for a threatened sanctions package against Russia.

A Reuters witness saw columns of military vehicles including tanks early Tuesday on the outskirts of Donetsk, the capital of one of two breakaway regions of ...

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The foreign ministry said it had recalled a senior Ukrainian diplomat from Moscow for consultations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Estonian ...

"Well, we're used to it. With or without reason." "The Russian Federation's decision to recognise the so-called "Luhansk People's Republic" and "Donetsk People's Republic" will have no legal implications," it said. A decision to recognise immediately the independence of the two separatist-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is an act of defiance in the face of warnings from Western allies. He blamed Ukraine for using "bellicose rhetoric" and "doing everything it could to sabotage and destroy" the Minsk agreement "with the backing of our western colleagues". But Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia - who is also the president of the council - described the speeches as "emotional" and a "direct verbal assault".

On Monday, Mr Putin formally recognised two eastern Ukrainian regions held by pro-Russian separatist groups as independent states. Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's ...

He pledged to remain in Kyiv as Russian missile strikes began to target the city in the early hours of Friday morning. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Russia insisted that it was not a party to the conflict and that the agreement therefore did not apply to it, arguing that it could not remove armed forces and military hardware from Donetsk and Luhansk because the combatants were part of a separatist insurgency and not its own. Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) respectively, made a direct appeal to the Kremlin and asked for military and financial aid as the situation in those regions became increasingly critical. In the opening skirmishes, Ukraine’s military has said it has destroyed four Russian tanks on a road near the eastern city of Kharkiv, killed 50 troops near a town in Luhansk region and downed a sixth Russian aircraft, also in the country’s east. Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in a televised address to his citizens in the early hours of Thursday 24 February, drawing a line under the West’s diplomatic efforts to avert calamity and restore the peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's move to recognize breakaway eastern Ukrainian territories as independent could be the opening phase of a larger potential ...

"If he goes for war, he will have to get his objectives fast and start preparing the 'peace' negotiations with the West." Putin's decision has put the US and its allies in a tricky position with regard to imposing consequences, several of the officials said. The official said "it now looks like Russia will be operating openly in that region, and we will be responding accordingly." "Russia's announcement is nothing more than theater, apparently designed to create a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine," she said in a statement. "This kills Minsk. It's not clear where we go from here. "That's your invasion," said one European diplomat.