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Putin ordered Russian troops to move to Ukraine
The United States has asked all diplomatic personnel to evacuate Ukraine, and the European Union announces a package of sanctions against Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military forces to enter the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as guarantors of peace, after proclaiming themselves independent republics.
These Russian measures violate the sovereignty of Ukraine according to international treaties and the Minsk agreements.
Once the decree of independence was signed, the Russian soldiers began to move towards Lugansk and Donetsk. Ukraine's armed forces will no longer have to deal with separatist groups but with the Russian army.
The pro-Russian forces in Donbass only control a third of the region. Only the cities of Slaviansk ( population 100,000 ) and Mariupol (population 400,000 ) are controlled by Ukraine.
In the same decree, which Putin signed where he "grants" the independence of Lugansk and Donetsk, he also authorizes the mobilization of soldiers to the regions of Ukraine controlled by separatist forces.
Through his statement to the country, Vladimir Putin not only justified the advance of the soldiers to the Donbass, but also an apparent large-scale invasion of Ukraine, assuring that "Ukraine is Russia and should never cease to be".
These statements insinuate that for Putin Ukraine's accession to NATO is no longer a concern, but that he wants that country to stop being a sovereign state.
In a war speech, the Russian president pointed out that Ukraine and its authorities are "puppets" of the United States, assuring that they are controlled by the West and NATO, which represents a huge risk to Russian security.
On the other hand, the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, addressed the nation assuring that there was no fear, alleging that "clear and effective" measures will be taken against Moscow.
In turn, he requested an urgent meeting in the Normandy format, made up of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia.
In addition to that, the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, assured that the citizens of Ukraine are “confident and calm”. Nevertheless, he declared that they are ready to defend the Ukrainian territory.
What happened in Lugansk and Donetsk is the result of a war that has been brewing for almost a decade. In 2014, Russia intervened in the Donbass region and annexed Crimea to its territory.
Throughout the conflict, more than 14,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate the territory.
Consequences of "independence"
By recognizing Donetsk and Lugansk as independent republics, Vladimir Putin attributes the duty to enter the territory under the guise of protecting Russian communities.
On repeated occasions, Moscow has denounced that the Russians in the Donbass region are victims of genocide.
The Kremlin has deployed roughly 190,000 troops around the Ukrainian border, 30,000 of whom are in Belarus, a nation that is one of Russia's main allies.
The troops on Belarusian soil were carrying out military training that had a completion date of Sunday, but were extended without an end date due to the growth of the conflict in recent days.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, assured from Brussels that the actions against Russia will be decisive, referring to the sanctioning measures that they had already announced.
In this context, the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, on his Twitter account declared that Putin's independence recognition of the Donbass regions is a flagrant violation of the Minsk agreements.
For its part, the United States announced specific sanctions on the two separatist cities and ordered all diplomatic personnel to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Poland.
He also offered protection to Ukraine's leaders who he believes may be in danger of their lives.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, called a meeting of the Emergency Committee (Cobra), but had previously announced that if Russia invaded Ukraine, it would carry the “strongest financial sanctions”.
Biden sends reinforcements to eastern Ukraine
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced on Tuesday that there would be a redeployment of troops in European territory, including the sending of 800 infantrymen to the Baltic region. In addition, it would send eight fighter planes to various areas of the eastern Alliance territory.
In addition to that, they will send 32 AH-64 Apache combat helicopters to the Baltic area and to Poland.
