Putin orders troops in eastern Ukraine regions, says for ‘peacekeeping purposes’

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he had asked member states of the U.N. Security Council to hold urgent discussions on practical steps to guarantee his country's security and on de-escalating the tensions with Russia.

A bullet riddled effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is coated by fresh snow at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. (AP Photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees dispatching troops after recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk enclaves as independent republics. These measures could be precursors to a broader Russian invasion, the Washington Post reported.

The decrees do not specify what this could mean, but experts in Ukraine and Russia have argued that Putin can now officially send Russian troops to the rebel areas of eastern Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said had earlier said that Russia would decide later on Monday whether or not to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent. He made the remark at the end of a televised meeting of his Security Council in which a series of officials spoke of the deteriorating situation in the two self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine.

Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian government forces in the region since 2014, in a conflict that Kyiv says has cost around 15,000 lives.

Here are some more highlights from the last 24 hours:

Ukraine requests urgent UN Security Council talks on de-escalating crisis

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he had asked member states of the U.N. Security Council to hold urgent discussions on practical steps to guarantee his country’s security and on de-escalating the tensions with Russia.

Russia is a permanent veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council.Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Monday that he would make a decision on recognising two breakaway regions in East Ukraine later on Monday.

UK says unilateral sanctions against Russia would play into Putin’s narrative

If Britain were to impose sanctions on Russia unilaterally in response to its actions towards Ukraine, it would play into President Vladimir Putin’s
narrative, British defence minister Ben Wallace said on Monday.

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Asked by a lawmaker whether it was now time to start imposing sanctions, Wallace said: “If we were to unilaterally deliver them now, and America wasn’t, and the European Union wasn’t, I think there is a danger that President Putin would play into a divide and rule narrative.”

Top U.S. foreign policy officials arrive at White House as Russia-Ukraine crisis simmers

Top U.S. foreign policy officials arrived at the White House on Monday as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was weighing a request by two regions of eastern Ukraine to be recognized as independent, a move that could give Moscow a reason to openly send in troops.

A Reuters eyewitness saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrive at the White House on the U.S. Presidents Day federal holiday.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on the reason for their appearance.

With inputs from agencies

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