Vladimir Putin has ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after signing a decree recognising their independence, a move that has raised Western fears of an all-out war.
The Russian president said the forces would be used to “maintain peace” in the so-called republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, a claim the US dismissed as “nonsense”.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council late on Monday, US envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Moscow’s formal recognition of the rebel-held regions was part of its pretext for war.
Russia has supported the rebel administrations in the war-torn regions of the Donbas and accused Ukraine of being behind a recent surge in shelling - which Kiev strongly denies.
The Ukrainian military said two soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the east in the past 24 hours - the most casualties reported this year- as violations of a ceasefire agreement increased.
Reuters reported seeing unmarked tanks and other military hardware on the streets of Donetsk hours after Mr Putin signed the decree.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield said Mr Putin had “torn the Minsk Agreement to shreds”, referring to the 2015 peace deal that aimed to end conflict in the Donbas. Russia had committed “clear violation of international law”, she said.
Russian media reported on Tuesday that Donetsk and Lugansk had ratified a “friendship and cooperation treaty” with Moscow, formally opening the door to receiving military and financial support. Russia’s parliament is set to review the treaties imminently.
The UK said it was clear an invasion had begun. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the situation was as grave as the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when a confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Western allies said they would coordinate further sanctions against Russia after the US imposed an embargo on American business activity in the Donbas by executive order of President Joe Biden.
British PM Boris Johnson said the UK would immediately impose hard sanctions on Moscow, and that more would likely follow suit.
“This is, I should stress, just the first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia, because we expect I’m afraid that there is more Russian irrational behaviour to come.”
European Union member states’ ambassadors will meet on Tuesday with limited sanctions a possible option, an EU official said.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said France would put into place “appropriate and targeted measures on Russian interests” along with its European partners.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov brushed off the threat of sanctions on Tuesday, saying the west would impose them regardless of events and describing the response to Russia’s recognition of two breakaway Ukrainian regions as predictable.
“Our European, American, British colleagues will not stop and will not calm down until they have exhausted all their possibilities for the so-called “punishment of Russia”. They are already threatening us with all manner of sanctions or, as they say now, ‘the mother of all sanctions’,” Mr Lavrov said.
“Well, we’re used to it. We know that sanctions will be imposed anyway, in any case. With or without reason.”
Earlier, Russian envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia had said the US and it allies were pushing Ukraine toward “an armed provocation”.
Separately, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the recognition of the two regions did not affect Moscow’s readiness for talks with Washington, the Tass news agency reported.
