Russian President Vladimir Putin will recognize two pro-Moscow separatist-held areas of Ukraine as independent states, the Kremlin announced Monday in a move the U.S. has warned would violate ceasefire agreements in the breakaway territories. Leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic requested Putin’s official recognition in advance of what they claim to be a planned full-scale invasion by Ukrainian forces—an allegation Kyiv has vociferously denied. During a televised Monday meeting with his security council, Putin claimed he would listen to and consider the separatist appeals before reiterating that his top priority is a guarantee from the U.S. and its allies that NATO’s presence will scale back in the region and that Ukraine will never be able to join the security alliance.
