WASHINGTON — While Russia continued military drills in Belarus, French President Emmanuel Macron was brokering a face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden to avoid war. Biden’s administration warned the Russian military is in Belarus as part of a plan to attack Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Putin announced on Monday that he was recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine where pro-Russia guerrillas started fighting against the Ukrainian military about eight years ago and shelling continued on Monday.
Putin asked Russian lawmakers to approve military support for Ukraine’s rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance presents an existential threat to Russia. He doesn’t want countries in former Soviet Union territory to become members of NATO.
The United States and the European Union referred to Putin’s announcement as a violation of international law and prepared to prohibit financial transactions in the regions.
6 p.m. report
More on Ukraine-Russia crisis
- What to know in the escalating crisis
- Putin’s recognition of Ukraine’s rebels ups ante in crisis
- With all eyes on Ukraine, Putin to send his envoy to Balkans
- EXPLAINER: The story behind Ukraine’s separatist regions
- Putin recognizes separatist eastern Ukrainian regions
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