Putin's 'peacekeepers' in tanks roll into Ukraine separatist regions

New videos show the Russian army's so-called 'peacekeeping' force on the ground inside Ukraine, as the United States was trying to convince European allies to follow their lead and impose tough sanctions.

Military vehicles were seen after night fell on Monday in Makiivka, in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), recognized hours earlier as an independent state by Vladimir Putin.

Other footage showed armored vehicles at other locations in the DPR and neighboring Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), also recognized by the Kremlin. 

No insignia were visible on the vehicles, but there is little doubt they are Russian forces deployed on Putin's orders. 

At the same time, Ukraine said heavy shelling broke out along nearly all 250 miles of its frontline with the breakaway provinces, leaving two of its soldiers dead and 12 injured in a major escalation in violence.

Videos showed pro-Russian separatists lighting celebratory fireworks and waving Russian flags in Donetsk city following Putin's announcement of recognition.

The celebrations came as President Joe Biden issued an executive order banning US investment or trade with the two regions, but stopped far short of the 'swift and decisive' response that had been threatened. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions were designed to prevent Russia 'profiting off of this blatant violation of international law,' before tweeting: 'Russia's move to recognize the 'independence' of so-called republics controlled by its own proxies is a predictable, shameful act. 

'We condemn them in the strongest possible terms and #StandWithUkraine, as I told Foreign Minister tonight.'

White House spokesman Jen Psaki promised more sanctions will follow later today, while the State Department ordered its remaining staff to leave Ukraine for the safety of Poland.

Biden was on Monday night trying to get European allies to follow him in imposing sanctions.

'Clearly, the White House is talking to the Europeans,' said Bill Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, on CNN - suggesting the administration is holding off on tougher sanctions on Russia for the moment in order to get European partners on board. 

A senior US official earlier declined to characterize whether Putin's order for Russian armed forces to conduct 'peacekeeping' there counted as an actual invasion, which would trigger much wider and more severe Western sanctions against Moscow. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that 'the first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia' will be revealed today after Putin 'completely tore up international law.'

After chairing an early morning emergency meeting of top ministers, Johnson told reporters: '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 behavior to come.

'I'm afraid all the evidence is that President Putin is indeed bent on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the overrunning, the subjugation of an independent, sovereign European country and I think, let's be absolutely clear, that will be absolutely catastrophic.' 

Johnson said that Putin continues down on the path to 'encircling Kyiv itself, which is what he seems to be proposing to do, capturing the Ukrainian capital' then it is vital his efforts 'should not succeed and that Putin should fail'.

It comes as UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid declared that Russia 'invaded' Ukraine.

'We are waking up to a very dark day in Europe,' Javid said early this morning on Sky News. 'We have seen that [Putin] has recognized breakaway eastern regions in Ukraine and from the reports we can already tell that he has sent in tanks and troops. From that you can conclude that the invasion of Ukraine has begun.' 

European Union foreign ministers are also set to meet today to decide what sanctions to impose, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

'Clearly, the response will be in the form of sanctions,' he declared, but added that the aim is not to impose the whole range of sanctions that the EU has prepared should Russia invade Ukraine, but rather to address the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent.

Asked whether Russia's decision to send 'peacekeepers' in already amounts to an invasion, Borrell said, 'I wouldn't say that's a fully fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.'  

The bloc has repeatedly said it is ready to impose 'massive consequences' on Russia's economy if Moscow invades Ukraine but has also cautioned that, given the EU's close energy and trade ties to Russia, it wants to ratchet up sanctions. 

An EU official said the bloc's 27 ambassadors would discuss a wider package of sanctions this afternoon, but warned there would be difficulty in agreeing on an approach.

'There's a whole escalation ladder, starting with Russian individuals and moving up to finance, trade, and eventually energy. So, technically, a lot is possible,' the official told Reuters. 

'The problem politically is how to craft sanctions that all can agree to.'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also refused to recognize an 'invasion' in a 2am address to the nation, instead speaking of a 'violation of sovereignty' before adding: 'We are not afraid of anyone or anything. We don't owe anyone anything. And we won't give anything to anyone.' 

Zelensky has also demanded an immediate halt to the Nord Stream 2 project to pipe Russian natural gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea. The President called on Europe to introduce 'immediate sanctions' that include 'the complete stop of Nord Stream 2'.

In other major developments... 

• Reports from US intelligence has suggested that Russia has a 'kill list' of Ukrainians to target if they invade and an attack could form two weeks of 'terror', with constant rocket attacks and street fighting 
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Putin's call to recognize the independence of the breakaway regions was a 'very ill omen and a very dark sign' 
• Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also condemned Putin, accusing Russia of 'trying to stage a pretext to invade Ukraine yet again' 
• Fresh explosions were heard in Ukraine's eastern regions with separatist leaders claiming a Ukrainian citizen was killed and that Kiev's troops had crossed the border in armored vehicles 
• Russia claimed that a Ukrainian shell hit its territory in the Rostov-on-Don region, destroying an unoccupied guard post 
• Kiev has strongly denied shelling separatist or Russian positions Pro-Russian separatists said 60,000 people have now been evacuated from rebel-held areas to Russia 
• Air France announced it is halting all flights to and from Kiev, following similar move by Germany's Lufthansa 

A tank is seen on Monday night driving through Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine

A military truck drives along a street in Donetsk after Putin ordered the deployment of Russian troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine

Military vehicles are seen on the move on Monday night in Donetsk

A tank drives along a street in Donetsk on Monday night

Russian troops are seen entering Donetsk in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after Vladimir Putin said he was sending in 'peacekeepers'

Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order prohibiting trade and investment between US businesses and citizens and two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine

Putin gave a televised address on Monday and explained he would sign a decree recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk rebel regions in Eastern Ukraine as independent 'republics'

Waving Russian flags, people celebrated the latest announcement in the streets in Donetsk, Ukraine on Monday, February 21

Prime Minister Boris Johnson stopped short of declaring that Putin had ordered an invasion, but said that 'the first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia' will be revealed today after Putin 'completely tore up international law.' After chairing an early morning emergency meeting of top ministers, Johnson told reporters: '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 behavior to come'

President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the nation on a live TV broadcast in Kievat 2am this morning in which he declared:  'We are not afraid of anyone or anything. We don't owe anyone anything. And we won't give anything to anyone.'

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York at 9pm on Monday evening - chaired by Russia, which is currently president of the Security Council.

'President Putin is testing our international system' and 'seeing how far he can push us all,' said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the U.N. 

The flurry of diplomatic activity came after Putin signed decrees declaring the so-called DPR and LPR as sovereign states.

He justified his decision in a history-laden, grievance-ridden, pre-recorded speech that blamed NATO for the current crisis and railed against the way the West had triggered collapse of the Soviet Union.  

'I consider it necessary to take a long-overdue decision: To immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic,' he said.

He said America was 'pumping' in weapons to Ukraine and said accused Kiev of creating 'weapons of mass destruction'. 

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said Putin's move puts 'Kafka & Orwell to shame'.

She added: 'What we witnessed tonight might seem surreal for democratic world. But the way we respond will define us for the generations to come.'

A senior Biden administration official said the speech was not just about Russia's security. It was a speech that laid out a greater plan.

'He made clear that he views Ukraine historically as part of Russia,' he told reporters.

'And he made a number of false claims about Ukraine's intention that seems designed to excuse possible military action. This was a speech to the Russian people to justify war.'

The official said more sanctions will follow today. 

The increased level of threat led the State Department to temporarily move its remaining diplomats out of Ukraine to Poland, Bloomberg reported.

They are expected to return later this week if an invasion is not launched. 

Biden spent 35 minutes on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, promising a 'swift and decisive' response. 

He also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the Western allies coordinated their response.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said more measures will be taken if Russia further invades Ukraine.

'We are continuing to closely consult with Allies and partners, including Ukraine, on next steps and on Russia's ongoing escalation along the border with Ukraine,' she wrote. 

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace this morning said: 'It's incredibly serious what's happening in Ukraine.

'Many of us were forewarning that President Putin already had an agenda - you heard that agenda in his speech last night.

'This is a sovereign state which has now had some of its land effectively annexed from it.

'This is a sovereign state, a democratic state in Europe. All of us in Europe should worry and not hesitate to take whatever action we need to to deter President Putin from undermining both Nato, but also Europe and, more importantly, our values.'

Putin's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk rebel regions' independence paves the way for the long-feared Russian invasion and effectively shatters the Minsk peace agreements. 

It also opens the door for Russia to sign treaties with the 'states' and openly send troops and weapons there to defend them against Ukrainian 'threats'.

US intelligence has warned for weeks that this would be the way Putin would go about trying to disguise his invasion of Ukraine.  

'We have anticipated a move like this from Russia and are ready to respond immediately,' Psaki wrote in her Monday statement following Putin's remarks.

Elsewhere, leaders in Asia have voiced support for Ukraine's sovereignty and condemned the movement of tanks and troops into the breakaway provinces.

'Ukraine's sovereignty and territory must be respected,' South Korean President Moon Jae-in said this morning. 

'A military clash against the wishes of the international community... would bring huge ramifications in the politics and economies of not only Europe, but to the whole world.'.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said diplomats were trying to persuade 63 of its nationals who currently remain in Ukraine to leave.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meanwhile criticized Russia for violating Ukrainian territorial integrity and said his country would discuss possible 'severe actions,' including sanctions, with the international community.

Putin's 'actions are unacceptable, and we express our strong condemnation,' Kishida told reporters today. 

'Japan is watching the development with grave concern.'

Japan has a separate territorial dispute with Moscow over four Russian-controlled northern islands taken at the end of World War II. The standoff has prevented the signing of a peace treaty between the two sides.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said there was no basis under international law for Putin to recognize the Ukrainian separatist regions.

'We are concerned that this is a calculated act by President Putin to create a pretext for invasion, which would be a clear act of aggression. We again call for urgent diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful resolution,' Mahuta said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Russia should 'unconditionally withdraw' from Ukrainian territory and stop threatening its neighbors. Morrison said Russia's actions were 'unacceptable; it's unprovoked, it's unwarranted.'

'It is important that like-minded countries who denounce this sort of behavior do stick together, and I can assure you that the moment that other countries put in place strong and severe sanctions on Russia, we will be in lockstep with them and we will be moving just as quickly,' he said.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, is pictured on Monday night at an emergency session of the Security Council

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield (C, bottom) speaks during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the Ukraine crisis, in New York, February 21, 2022

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine celebrated on Monday evening as fireworks went off following Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a decree recognizing two Eastern Ukrainian regions as 'independent republics'

Putin's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk rebel regions' independence paves the way for the long-feared Russian invasion. Pro-Russian residents in Donetsk celebrated independence with a fireworks show on Monday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also spoke with Zelensky, promising to pursue a diplomatic solution until the last possible second. 

'The Prime Minister told President Zelensky that he believed an invasion was a real possibility in the coming hours and days,' Johnson's office said in a statement afterwards. 

Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough increased a day earlier when the White House said Biden had agreed in principle to a summit with Putin.

That hope all but evaporated after the Russian president's speech. 

'Our strong sense, based on everything that we are seeing on the ground in the areas around the Ukraine to the north, to the east, to the south, is that Russia is continuing to prepare for military action that could take place in the coming hours or days,' said the official, adding that administration could not commit to a meeting when invasion now seemed imminent. 

A bipartisan group of 21 lawmakers pledged on Monday to 'work toward whatever emergency supplemental legislation will best support our NATO allies and the people of Ukraine.'

'No matter what happens in the coming days, we must assure that the dictator Putin and his corrupt oligarchs pay a devastating price for their decisions,' they wrote.

Zelensky said he discussed with Biden on Monday afternoon 'the events of the last hours'.

'We begin the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council,' he posted, adding: 'A conversation with [UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson is also planned.'

The White House confirmed that Biden shared a 35-minute-long call with Zelensky but did not give details of the discussion.

Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were all spotted arriving at the White House West Wing on Monday morning.

'President Biden is meeting with his national security team at the White House today and is being regularly briefed on developments regarding Russia and Ukraine,' a White House official confirmed. 

The site of a car explosion outside a building of the representative office of the Lugansk People's Republic in the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) on ceasefire

An armed man stands beside the site of the blast after Putin declared the breakaway region of Luhansk 'independent' 

American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division start a fire in Poland, near the Ukrainian border, after they were deployed to back up NATO allies 

Artillery is seen in the foreground to American armored vehicles in a camp in Przemysl, Poland, 3.7 miles from the Ukrainian border during the standoff with Putin 

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division, deployed to Poland, walks past a fleet of their vehicles in Eastern Europe 

The White House announced Monday President Joe Biden will sign an Executive Order issuing economic sanctions on the two regions Russia just declared it recognizes as independent 'republics' in Eastern Ukraine

Servicemen attend joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus 

The White House is warning of a high scale of 'brutality' and 'extreme violence' Russians will have on Ukrainians – civilian and military – if they invade. Here US troops load equipment onto vehicles in Rzeszow, Poland on Saturday, February 19

President Joe Biden deployed a few thousand troops from the 82nd and 18th Airborne Corps to assist in Eastern Europe

US troops load equipment onto vehicles in Poland on Saturday

How Putin's recognition of breakaway republics has 'dangerous parallels' to Nazi Germany's actions before WWII 

Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine has 'dangerous parallels' to Nazi Germany's actions prior to the Second World War, the Commons has heard.

Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash (Stone) said: 'This evening Mr Putin has recognised the two separatist regions in Ukraine as independent states with dangerous parallels to Germany's recognition of the Sudetenland in 1938.'  

In the run-up to the Second World War, the Sudetenland, in which three million Germans lived, was part of what was then Czechoslovakia.  

In the famous Munich Agreement of 1938 the region was ceded to Adolf Hitler in the hope that the concession would be enough to avoid Europe-wide armed conflict after months of tensions caused by Germany's territorial ambitions.

Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine has 'dangerous parallels' to Nazi Germany's actions prior to the Second World War, the Commons has heard

Hitler had been planning an invasion of the territory prior to the signing of the agreement.  

Britain's then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was the main driver of the agreement, famously told the British public after it was signed that he believed it was 'peace in our time'.

Hitler, who had already absorbed Austria into Germany in March 1938, rode roughshod over the deal the following year by annexing all of Czechoslovakia in March and invading Poland on September 1.

It was that last act of aggression which was the final straw even for the peace-loving Chamberlain, who declared war on Germany on September 3. 

France followed soon after, sparking a conflict that finally ended with Germany's defeat in May 1945.  

In the famous Munich Agreement of 1938 the region was ceded to Adolf Hitler in the hope that the concession would be enough to avoid Europe-wide armed conflict after months of tensions caused by Germany 's territorial ambitions. Above: Hitler (right) with the then British PM Neville Chamberlain (centre)  

Biden also convened with his National Security Council on Sunday to discuss the latest developments in Eastern Europe as the west was still hoping for a diplomatic path forward at that point.

Putin assembled his inner circle on Monday as his top aides continue to advise him not to meet with Biden. 

'We've been negotiating for eight years,' Putin said during the meeting, adding: 'We've reached a dead end.'

The move fuels further tension with the West and narrows the diplomatic options available to avoid war, since it is an explicit rejection of a seven-year ceasefire mediated by France and Germany, still touted as the framework for any future negotiations on the wider crisis.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in a statement last week that if Russia did take the very action that it did on Monday, it would 'necessitate a swift and firm response from the United States in full coordination with our Allies and partners.'

He said it would further undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine, which was formerly a Soviet Bloc nation.

Biden met with his national security team Monday to discuss the situation, having been rebuffed earlier in the day over a summit with Putin.

France claimed to have brokered a meeting between the two leaders next week, which the White House agreed to 'in principle', before the Kremlin said talks were 'premature' and no 'concrete' plans had been made.

It is the second time that French President Emmanuel Macron, who has tried to position himself as Europe's top security negotiator, has been embarrassed by Moscow - given guarantees which were revoked when he made them public.

Two weeks ago, Macron claimed Putin had agreed to stop military drills on Ukraine's border, which Russia immediately denied.

The Kremlin said that upon hearing that Putin will sign the order to recognize the independence of eastern Ukraine's separatist republics, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had 'expressed disappointment' over the decision in phone calls with the Russian President.

Earlier on Monday, Putin vowed to decide 'today' whether to recognize Ukraine's eastern regions as independent states during remark at the close of an hours-long security council meeting that was broadcast on Russian TV.

During that meeting, the Kremlin's top security officials were called up one by one and asked to lay out the case for war - seemingly aimed at persuading a skeptical public of the need to attack.

Having spent days staging what are widely believed to be false flag attacks on Ukrainian soil and blaming them on Kyiv, ministers presented the 'evidence' to Putin today claiming Russians in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions are under threat of 'genocide', that no peace deal can save them and that he must intervene to save lives.

But in evidence that the entire spectacle was being staged - with the West warning a decision to invade has already been made - eagle-eyed viewers noticed that defense minister Sergei Shoigu's watch was five hours behind Moscow time, suggesting the hearing was pre-recorded. 

Ukraine's Defense Minister Dymtro Kuleba, said following the Russian council meeting that 'the entire world' will watch what Putin does next and claimed 'everyone realizes the consequences' of Russia recognizing breakaway regions.

'We all should calmly focus on de-escalation efforts, [there is] no other way,' he tweeted.

The US has warned the United Nation's Security Council that Moscow has prepared a list of targets for assassination and imprisonment in detention camps.

And now NBC News is reporting that two people familiar with discussions have detailed Biden administration officials discussions with the Ukrainian government for President Volodymyr Zelensky to leave Kyiv in the event of a Russian invasion.

Two Ukrainian soldiers died on Monday and three were wounded in a shelling attack in Zaitseve, a village 18 miles north of the rebel stronghold Donetsk, Ukraine's national police said.

Germany's Scholz, who had a phone call with Putin Monday, warned him that recognizing the eastern regions would be a 'one-sided' breach of peace negotiations and that he has a 'responsibility' to deescalate tensions by removing troops from the border.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Russia plans to 'crush' Ukraine should it decide to go forward with a full-scale invasion.

'We believe that any military operation of the size, scope and magnitude of what we believe the Russians are planning will be extremely violent,' Sullivan told NBC News' Today show on Monday morning. 

'It will cost the lives of Ukrainians and Russians, civilians and military personnel alike.

'But we also have intelligence to suggest that there will be an even greater form of brutality, because this will not simply be some conventional war between two armies,' he continued.

'It will be a war waged by Russia on the Ukrainian people to repress them, to crush them, to harm them. And that is what we laid out in detail for the U.N. because we believe that the world must mobilize to counter this kind of Russian aggression should those tanks roll across the border as we anticipate they very well may do in the coming hours or days.'

There are now thought to be 190,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine comprising around three quarters of its conventional forces backed by 500 fighter jets, 50 heavy bombers, and dozens of attack helicopters.

Sullivan told Good Morning America earlier on Monday that Moscow is moving forward with plans to invade after snubbing Biden's offer for a summit on the caveat that Russia stands down.

'We never give up hope on diplomacy until the missiles fly or the tanks roll,' he said. 'But we have been working hard for months with our allies and partners to get Russia to sit down in a serious way at the table – even as recently as yesterday, the president has indicated his readiness to do that. Russia has not shown the same willingness on their side.'

'The likelihood that there's a diplomatic solution, given the movements – the troop movements of the Russians, is diminishing hour by hour,' Sullivan added.

'Unfortunately, we have called out at every stage of this what the Russians were going to do and they're doing it.'

Putin convened a meeting with his top security officials Monday where he called them up one by one to lay out the case for recognizing eastern Ukrainian regions as independent republics – seemingly aimed at persuading a skeptical public of the need to attack

US intelligence has long warned that Russia would invade Ukraine by saying it needs to protect the interests of separatist ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in the country. A handout image shows Russian cruiser Moskva  conducting an artillery battle and destroying a mock enemy submarine in the Black Sea near Sevastopol, Crimea on February 18, 2022

Pictured: Biden convened a meeting of the National Security Council on Sunday to discuss the latest developments regarding Russia's expected invasion of Ukraine