Russia recognizes Ukraine-held regions as part of rebel areas

Russia announced Tuesday that its recognition of independence for areas in eastern Ukraine extends to territory currently held by Ukrainian forces mdash further raising the stakes amid Western fears that a fullfledged invasion of Ukraine is imminentKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has recognized the rebel regionsrsquo independence ldquoin borders that existed when they proclaimedrdquo their independence in 2014Ukrainian forces later reclaimed control of large part of both regions during a nearly eightyear conflict that has killed over 14000 peopleThe announcement comes a day after Russia said it would recognize the independence mdash but didnrsquot say exactly what it considered the borders of those areas to be The move was widely seen in the West to presage a Russian invasionWestern leaders have denounced the move and said they are preparing to announce sanctionsRussian officials havenrsquot yet acknowledged any troop deployments to the rebel east but Vladislav Brig a member of the separatist local council in Donetsk told reporters that the Russian troops already had moved in the regionrsquos north and west Ukrainersquos President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to project calm telling the country in an address overnight ldquoWe are not afraid of anyone or anything We donrsquot owe anyone anything And we wonrsquot give anything to anyonerdquo His foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba will be in Washington on Tuesday to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken the State Department saidWhite House reactsThe White House issued an executive order to prohibit US investment and trade in the separatist regions and additional measures mdash likely sanctions mdash were to be announced Tuesday Those sanctions are independent of what Washington has prepared in the event of a Russian invasion according to a senior administration official who briefed reportersBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday the UK will also introduce ldquoimmediaterdquo economic sanctions against Russia He said Putin had ldquocompletely torn up international lawrdquo and British sanctions would target not just the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk but ldquoRussian economic interests as hard as we canrdquo EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said ldquoRussian troops have entered in Donbasrdquo adding ldquoI wouldnrsquot say that it is a fullyfledged invasion but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soilrdquo and the EU would decide on sanctions later on TuesdayPutin announced the move in an hourlong televised speech blaming the US and its allies for the current crisis and describing Ukrainersquos bid to join NATO as an existential challenge to Russia ldquoUkrainersquos membership in NATO poses a direct threat to Russiarsquos securityrdquo he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever