Russia-Ukraine live updates: Putin orders troops to separatist regions of Ukraine

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss says the United Kingdom is prepared to bring new sanctions against Russia in response to its “breach of international law and attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead an emergency committee meeting on Tuesday morning “to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and to coordinate the UK response including agreeing to a significant package of sanctions to be introduced immediately,” according to a No. 10 Downing Street announcement. Johnson’s office also said Britain would “explore sending further defensive support to Ukraine, at the request of the Ukrainian Government.”

It remains unclear what the British sanctions will entail, but other Western leaders have followed suit in announcing theirs and warning that Putin’s orders are intended to prepare a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that “the Union will react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act.”

“This step is a blatant violation of international law as well as of the Minsk agreements,” the two leaders said, referring to the peace agreements brokered by France and Germany in 2014 and 2015 to end the conflict between Kyiv and the Russian-backed separatists in the contested Donbas region of Ukraine.

White House aides are reviewing how the United States could respond if Russia curtails exports of global oil products amid hostilities over Ukraine, anticipating a potential spike in gas costs that could further raise prices domestically.

Moves being discussed by administration officials include another potential release of the U.S. government’s strategic oil reserves, said two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Russia could respond to expanded sanctions by limiting sales of oil and other energy products to Europe and other parts of the world. That nation produces about 11 percent of the world’s oil supply, or roughly 10.5 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The conversations about U.S. oil reserves were described as preliminary as the Biden administration considers a broader set of options to insulate Americans from higher gas prices, the people said, with or without a conflict in Eastern Europe.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday condemned Russia’s decision to officially recognize two breakaway enclaves of Ukraine.

In a statement issued just hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a declaration, Blinken said the move marked a “complete rejection of Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements,” the accords designed to end the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“States have an obligation not to recognize a new ‘state’ created through the threat or use of force, as well as an obligation not to disrupt another state’s borders,” he said. “Russia’s decision is yet another example of President Putin’s flagrant disrespect for international law and norms.”

Why are Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region a flash point for Putin?

Blinken, who is tentatively scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday, referred to President Biden’s plan to impose sanctions on individuals doing business in the breakaway regions. He said the planned step was not aimed at Ukrainian citizens and would permit humanitarian activities.

“We stand with our Ukrainian partners in strongly condemning President Putin’s announcement,” he said.

President Biden condemned Russia’s declaration in Monday calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to the White House.

Biden and Zelensky spoke for 35 minutes, according to a White House official. Later, the White House released a statement saying Biden spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart to “reaffirm the commitment of the United States to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Biden “strongly condemned” Putin’s “decision to purportedly recognize the ‘independence’ of the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine,” the White House statement added. Biden also updated Zelensky on U.S. plans to issue sanctions in response, the statement said.

He also spoke with Macron and Scholz for about 30 minutes, according to a White House official.

In that conversation, the “leaders strongly condemned President Putin’s decision to recognize the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine as ‘independent.’ They discussed how they will continue to coordinate their response on next steps,” according to a White House news release.

A bipartisan group of Senate and House members pledged to “support our NATO allies and the people of Ukraine” in the event of a Russian invasion.

The delegation of more than 20 lawmakers who attended last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, which was dominated by the growing threat of war on the Russia-Ukraine border, said in a statement Monday: “It now appears increasingly likely that Russian forces will initiate hostilities against a free and peaceful Ukraine.”

“We pledge to work toward whatever emergency supplemental legislation will best support our NATO allies and the people of Ukraine, and support freedom and safety around the world,” the statement read. “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.”

Signatories included Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who led the delegation. Other members included Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and from the House, Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

In a separate statement on the delegation’s participation in the Munich conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said U.S. lawmakers “expressed America’s strong support for the people of Ukraine and reaffirmed America’s ironclad commitment to imposing swift and severe consequences if Russia chooses to invade Ukraine. In our response, the West will remain strong, united and resolute.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, after recognizing two Russian-backed separatist regions in Ukraine as independent, ordered Russian forces into the territories for “peacekeeping” purposes, dramatically escalating a crisis that has put Europe on the brink of a full-fledged war.

In two Russian presidential orders published by the state news agency RIA Novosti, Putin ordered the Russian Defense Ministry to ensure the deployment of the Russian military into the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic for the purposes of “supporting peace.” Troops have been amassing near the Ukrainian border for weeks.

Putin approved the agreements for 10 years, according to the full document published by RIA Novosti, allowing Russia to build military bases in Donetsk and Luhansk and jointly patrol their borders with Ukraine.

Despite fueling a war in the regions since 2014, the Kremlin has long denied that regular Russian forces are aiding the separatist fighters, though their presence has been documented by the Ukrainian and U.S. governments for many years.

The decision to openly deploy Russian forces into the territories — which have seen a significant rise in violence in recent days — further raises the risk of a full-scale war in Ukraine. If Russian troops die and the Kremlin blames Ukrainian forces, such an incident could be used as a pretext for a broader invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military.

Follow a battalion commander through the trenches of eastern Ukraine as he prepares his troops for a possible Russian invasion.

The European Union on Monday said it would sanction five officials for supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine Ukrainian independence.

Those sanctioned include members of the Russian parliament, the Duma, who were elected last year to represent the annexed Crimean peninsula and the city of Sevastopol, along with the head and deputy head of the Sevastopol electoral commission.

“The European Union does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, and continues to condemn the Russian violation of international law,” the European Union said in a statement. “Moreover, the EU remains unwavering in its support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

E.U. sanctions related to the territorial integrity of Ukraine now apply to 193 people and 48 entities. Those sanctioned are subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban preventing them from entering or traveling through the E.U.