Woodkirk Stone
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — From a hastily convened United Nations Security Council meeting in capitals around the world, leaders have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of two pro-Russian regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and his order to send troops there.
They also warned of the global fallout from the Ukraine crisis, which was evident on Tuesday as oil prices rose, stock markets fell, and the UK imposed sanctions on Russian banks.
Here is an overview of the main things to know on Tuesday on the Ukraine conflict and the security crisis in Eastern Europe:
DID RUSSIA INVADE UKRAINE?
White House calls Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine an ‘invasion’ after initially hesitating to use the term. Leaders around the world condemned Putin and prepared to hit his administration with sanctions.
“We believe this is, yes, the start of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, senior deputy national security adviser. He said “latest” was important. “An invasion is an invasion and that’s what’s going on.”
The Biden administration initially resisted calling the troop deployment an invasion because the White House wanted to see what Russia was actually going to do, but that changed after assessing Russian troop movements, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. .
British officials, including British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, noted that this was not the first Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and previously operated in eastern Ukraine.
“Russia has already invaded Ukraine. They did so in 2014, illegally occupying Crimea and Donbass. This is a new invasion of their sovereign territory. No one recognizes the legitimacy of the occupation and annexation of Crimea. Not even the Chinese,” Wallace said.
The White House issued an executive order banning US investment and trade in breakaway regions on Monday, and Britain imposed sanctions on Russian banks on Tuesday. Additional measures – likely sanctions – were to be announced later Tuesday by the United States and the European Union.
—-
WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND IN EASTERN UKRAINE?
Convoys of armored vehicles were seen rolling through separatist-controlled Ukrainian territories on Monday evening. It was not immediately clear if they were Russian, but NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that “we saw last night that other Russian troops moved into Donbass in some parts of Donetsk and Lugansk”.
A vaguely worded executive order signed by Putin on Monday night framed his order of troops in breakaway territories as an effort to “keep the peace”.
On Tuesday, Russian lawmakers Putin authorized the use of military force outside the country – a move that could presage a wider attack on Ukraine after the United States said an invasion was already in progress. course there.
Russian officials have yet to acknowledge the troop deployment, but Vladislav Brig, a member of the separatist local council in Donetsk, told reporters that Russian troops had already moved in, taking up positions in the north and west of the region. .
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told British lawmakers that Russian tanks were already in eastern Ukraine.
“Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers” have been spotted in areas of eastern Ukraine recognized by Putin, Johnson said, adding that it amounts to “a new invasion” of Ukraine.
—-
WHAT IS UKRAINE’S RESPONSE?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to project calm, telling the country in an overnight speech: “We are not afraid of anything or anyone.”
Protesters, some draped in Ukrainian flags, gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Kyiv. One of them held up a placard that read: “We choose Europe, not Russia”.
___
WHAT DOES NATO SAY ABOUT RUSSIAN MOVEMENTS?
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was taking military action against Ukraine and he condemned Moscow’s decision to recognize breakaway areas in southeastern Ukraine as independent.
“Moscow has now moved from covert attempts to destabilize Ukraine to overt military action,” Stoltenberg told reporters on Tuesday.
When asked if Russia’s actions constituted an invasion, he replied: “Russia has already invaded Ukraine, it invaded Ukraine in 2014”, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. He added that “what we are seeing now is that a country that is already invaded is being invaded again.”
Stoltenberg said NATO allies had more than 100 jets on high alert and more than 120 warships ready at sea from the Far North to the Mediterranean Sea.
He said the NATO response force remains at a high level of readiness but is not yet deployed, although some allies are moving troops, ships and planes into the Baltic states and near the Black Sea. to defend NATO allies.
___
GERMANY COMMITS TO STOP GAS PIPELINE CERTIFICATION
Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany has taken steps to stop certification process for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline of Russia, as he called Putin’s actions against Ukraine a “serious violation of international law”.
This decision is an important decision for the German government, which had long resisted stopping the project despite pressure from the United States and certain European countries.
Scholz told reporters in Berlin that it was necessary “to send a clear signal to Moscow that such actions will not remain without consequences.” He said it was now up to the international community to react to this unilateral, incomprehensible and unjustified action by the Russian president.
Washington has argued for years that building another natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany increases Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies..
___
WHAT ARE THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE EUROPEAN UNION DOING?
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his government is applying sanctions to five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals following the latest Russian military measures against Ukraine.
Johnson told lawmakers the sanctions would hit Rossiya Bank, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and Black Sea Bank.
He said three Russian oligarchs with interests in energy and infrastructure – Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg – will have their assets frozen and banned from traveling to the UK.
Johnson accused Putin of “establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive” against Ukraine and said “further powerful sanctions” would follow, if that happened.
Senior European Union officials say the bloc is close to imposing sanctions on several Russian officials and banks financing the Russian armed forces as part of measures to limit Moscow’s access to EU capital and financial markets.
The actions, to be taken following Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of two breakaway regions in southeastern Ukraine and deploy troops there, “would target those who were involved in the illegal decision “, according to an EU statement.
EU sanctions would also target trade from the two breakaway regions.
EU foreign ministers will meet later on Tuesday in Paris to discuss the measures.
—-
IS THERE STILL A PLACE FOR DIPLOMACY?
With around 150,000 Russian troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, the United States warned last week that Putin had already decided to invade its neighbor. Yet President Joe Biden and Putin tentatively agreed to a meeting brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron in a last-ditch effort to avert war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said “it is premature to talk about specific plans for a summit.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in Washington on Tuesday to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told a Security Council meeting on Monday evening: “We are committed to a diplomatic political settlement and do not succumb to provocations.”
___
BRITAIN CALLS FOR FOOTBALL FINAL TO BE MOVED FROM RUSSIA
The UK government is leading calls for the Champions League soccer final to be withdrawn from Russia by European football’s governing body to punish its growing interference in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised concerns over the showpiece men’s match played in St Petersburg on May 28 as he urged Putin not to lead a full invasion of Ukraine.
“It is absolutely vital at this critical time that President Putin understands that what he is doing is going to be a disaster for Russia,” Johnson told the House of Commons.
“He will end up with (…) a more isolated Russia, a Russia that has pariah status, no chance of organizing football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries.”
___
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL?
UNITED NATIONS – Ukraine’s UN ambassador has demanded that Russia rescind its recognition of the independence of the breakaway regions in the east, immediately withdraw its “occupying troops” and resume negotiations.
Sergiy Kyslytsya said at the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday that Ukraine called the rare evening session to protest and condemn Putin’s “illegal and illegitimate” decision to recognize separatist-controlled regions.
Kyslytsya said Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders “have been and will remain immutable regardless of the statements and actions of the Russian Federation.”
He said Putin’s moves “could be seen” as Russia’s unilateral withdrawal from the Minsk Accords, which aimed to restore peace in eastern Ukraine.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed “as nonsense” Putin’s claim that Russian troops were in eastern Ukraine as soldiers of the peace, saying their presence is “clearly the basis of Russia’s attempt to create a pretext for another invasion”. from Ukraine.
Thomas-Greenfield said the Russian president has presented the world with a choice and he ‘must not look away’ because ‘history tells us that looking away in the face of such hostility will be a much more expensive path’ .
___
AP editors around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Russia-Ukraine tensions at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine