Russia-Ukraine live updates: Kremlin says Moscow will see two Ukrainian regions as independent, a potential pretext for war

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday gave a long and rambling televised speech to his nation with his own take on Ukraine’s history before delivering the bombshell of his recognition of two Moscow-backed separatist regions of eastern Ukraine — creating a potential pretext to send in forces.

The leaders of the two regions asked Putin on Monday for recognition and for military assistance, raising the prospect that they could invite Russian forces in, allowing Moscow the pretense of a “legal” military intervention.

Putin has accused Ukraine of “genocide” against the regions, and Russian officials claim Kyiv has mounted intensifying military attacks there, claims rejected as disinformation by Ukrainian officials on Monday. Putin has produced no evidence for his accusation.

The move could give him a pretext to invade Ukraine, particularly after Moscow’s claims that Kyiv forces were attacking the areas.

Ukrainian officials Monday denied the attacks, saying the claims were Russian disinformation. Western officials have warned repeatedly that Moscow is manufacturing a reason to invade.

Recognition of the territories breaches the 2015 Minsk peace agreement that was developed to restore the separatist regions to Ukraine’s control but was never implemented.

Putin called French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday evening to tell them of his decision after an extraordinary meeting of his hawkish Security Council where officials one by one stood up to urge him to recognize the regions. The Kremlin said Macron and Scholz expressed their disappointment but agreed to maintain contacts, the Kremlin said.

Russia’s Security Council on Monday called on President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, a move that could give him a pretext to invade Ukraine, particularly after Moscow’s claims that Kyiv forces were attacking the areas.

Ukraine officials denied the attacks Monday, saying the claims were Russian disinformation. Western officials have warned repeatedly that Moscow is manufacturing a reason to invade.

Putin is likely to make a decision later Monday.

All the members of Putin’s Security Council supported recognizing two regions, which call themselves the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.

As Ukraine has turned toward the West, Moscow has long been trying to drag it back into Russian orbit, preparing the ground for years, including by issuing Russian passports to 800,000 Ukrainians in the two regions. That gives Russia a pretext to send in forces to “defend” them.

If Russia recognizes the two regions as independent, the separatist leaders could appeal to Moscow to send in forces. The leaders already called for Russian military assistance Monday.

Putin called the extraordinary Security Council meeting after accusing Ukraine of committing “genocide” in the regions last week, without producing evidence.

The Security Council includes Putin’s hawkish military, security and intelligence chiefs, who have emerged as his major source of advice, according to Russian political analysts, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the heads of Russia’s upper and lower houses of parliament.

The Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic are a major flash point in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and the scene of fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists that has claimed 14,000 lives since 2014.

The decision to recognize them would beach the 2015 Minsk peace agreement brokered by France and Germany that was designed to return the two regions to Kyiv’s control.

One by one, Security Council officials urged Putin to recognize the regions, arguing that Kyiv was trying to “freeze” the eastern Ukraine conflict, preventing a resolution and leaving Russia to cover the regions’ costs.

Putin said it was clear that Ukraine had no intention of implementing the Minsk agreement, which requires Kyiv to pass laws giving the regions autonomy.

As Russian military forces increase their presence on Ukraine’s eastern border and intensify fears of an invasion, two cities in the country’s eastern Donbas region have emerged as key locations to understanding the crisis.

Donetsk and Luhansk are controlled by Russian-backed separatists and have some of the highest percentages of ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking residents in Ukraine.

The Donbas region has grown closer to Russia since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and the two key cities have proclaimed themselves as the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. Neither area is recognized as independent by the United States or other world powers, and both are considered terrorist organizations by the Ukrainian government.

Putin’s security council on Monday urged him to recognize them as independent.

With more than an estimated 190,000 Russian troops amassed at Ukraine’s border, the United States and other Western governments fear rebel forces in Donetsk and Luhansk working at the behest of Putin will stage “false flag” attacks on their own people and blame them on Ukrainian military forces to sow confusion and create a pretext for war.

While the Russian government has denied this, Putin has a lengthy history of accusations against him for using such operations.

USPENKA, Russia — Convoys of Russian military equipment could be seen advancing into the forests toward Ukraine in Russia’s southern region of Rostov on Monday, as close as a dozen miles from the border with the Ukraine’s separatist-controlled Donetsk region.

Washington Post journalists saw a convoy of at least 20 Gvozdika and Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, artillery-fire-control systems, and all-purpose towing tractors crossing a muddy field about 18 miles away from the border with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, an area Putin’s security council has urged him to recognize as independent of Ukraine. Such recognition could be pretext to send in Russian forces.

A few miles farther from the border, The Post team spotted a tow truck transporting a tank with a dirt-caked caterpillar chain.

Trucks with fuel and cargo were stationed on the side roads along a highway leading to the Uspenka checkpoint on the border.

Fresh tank tracks were visible in fields near the border, which locals said had not been spotted before Monday in the area.

According to the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an independent group of researchers tracking Russian movements near Ukraine, similar Russian military movements were observed in other parts of western Russia near Ukraine on Monday.

“The nature of the movement of Russian equipment near the borders of Ukraine has changed dramatically,” the CIT said on Telegram, noting that tanks and infantry-fighting vehicles were moving across terrain and along roads, not merely being transported on rail cars.

“We believe that the transfer of forces from other regions has come to an end, and apparently they are heading towards positions for a possible offensive,” the CIT said.

Uspenka border crossing now serves as an evacuation point for residents leaving the Moscow-backed Donetsk region.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday called on the U.N. Security Council to meet immediately to discuss Ukraine’s security.

In a Twitter post, he said he was acting on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He asked that Security Council members confer over “urgent actions aimed at de-escalation, as well as practical steps to guarantee the security of Ukraine” under Article 6 of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances.

The agreement was signed by Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom in December 1994. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, but agreed to relinquish it in return for assurances of its sovereignty and the sanctity of its borders.

Among the guarantees given to Kyiv, the three countries promised that they would “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence.”

The memorandum’s sixth and final article said the three would “consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments.” However, the agreement did not contain any mechanism to force the signatories to comply.

This month, the UNSC’s rotating leader — which has some control over the body’s agenda — is Russia.

As Putin asked his Security Council to examine whether to recognize the independence of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, life near Luhansk — one of the areas in Ukraine controlled by separatists — continued as normal, Washington Post photographer Salwan Georges witnessed Sunday.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of his Security Council on Monday to “determine our next steps” related to the Ukraine crisis.

Putin told the meeting the West had offered no concessions to Russia in its key demands for a bar on Ukraine or other Eastern European countries joining NATO.

He said the Russian Security Council would examine whether to recognize the independence of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, a move that would signal an end to a seven-year peace deal known as the Minsk agreement.

Russia has accused Ukraine of intensifying attacks on the regions in recent days, without producing evidence, and Putin on Friday accused Kyiv of committing “genocide” there. Ukraine officials said Monday that Russia was manufacturing disinformation that fighting was going on.

Putin said it was clear that Ukraine had no intention of implementing the terms of the 2015 Minsk agreement that was designed to return the regions to Ukrainian control.

Kyiv has sought amendments to the deal, arguing that implementing it on Russian terms would give Moscow a lever to influence Ukraine’s foreign policy and Western links, undermining the nation’s sovereignty.

Putin said that Russia had initially done everything it could to resolve the situation peacefully but that Ukrainian authorities had “carried out military punitive operations in these territories twice. All these years, the people who live there have been practically abused.”

Earlier, the leaders of both regions had requested Moscow’s recognition.

PARIS — Air France on Monday became the latest major airline to temporarily suspend flights to the Ukrainian capital over concerns that a Russian invasion of the country may be imminent, joining other European carriers that have already taken similar measures.

In a statement, Air France said the “precautionary measure” would for now only concern flights to and from Kyiv on Tuesday. The airline did not say whether it expects flights to resume later this week.

“Air France will regularly reassess the situation and reminds that the safety and security of its flights, its customers and its crews, is an absolute imperative,” the French flag carrier said in a statement.

Germany’s Lufthansa Group and Dutch carrier KLM had previously announced a suspension of their flights to Kyiv.

In total, about 10 airlines have so far changed flight plans, said Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, according to Reuters news agency.

Kubrakov said “the state is working to replace canceled flights,” Reuters reported.

Flights to and from Ukraine have been under close scrutiny for years. Airlines have avoided flying over eastern Ukraine since a surface-to-air missile downed a passenger jet in the area in 2014, killing 298 people. A Dutch-led investigative team later found that the missile system was brought in from Russia and fired from an area held by pro-Russian separatists.