Russian President Putin orders ‘peacekeeping’ troops into separatist-held regions of Ukraine

An aggrieved President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, allegedly for peacekeeping purposes, after recognizing the areas as independent and delivering an intense speech in which he said his country’s western neighbor lacked the “traditions” of statehood.

Putin’s dramatic moves on Monday seemed to set the stage for an invasion that the U.S. has said was approaching, and the West moved quickly in response. The European Union said that it would impose sanctions, and the White House promised an executive order that would set a framework for American sanctions.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said in a statement that the measure “would be in addition to the swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine.”

The U.S. estimated last week that Russia had massed between 170,000 and 190,000 troops in and around Ukraine, and President Biden said he was “convinced” that Putin had decided to order an invasion that would strike at the capital city Kyiv.

The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted Monday that Putin’s recognition of the two separatist regions — Donetsk and Luhansk — amounted to a “blatant violation of international law.”

Putin ripped into the West in his speech, describing NATO as a terminal threat to his country. He suggested that Ukraine, a nation of 44 million people that sits in what was once the Soviet Union, was connected inextricably to Russia.

And he declared that it was “madness” that former republics of the Soviet Union had been allowed to leave. “Ukraine has never had traditions of their own statehood,” Putin said in the address from Moscow.

Western observers said the Russian president’s remarks represented a flagrant rewriting of Ukraine’s history. “Putin’s speech is truly mind-boggling,” tweeted Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the U.S. “A paranoid delirium in a parallel universe.”

Ukraine declared itself independent in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has drifted toward the West in recent years. Statues honoring its Soviet past have fallen; tributes to battles for its Moscow-free present have risen.

But Ukraine’s independent future seemed in deep jeopardy, with an emboldened Putin on the precipice of launching the largest battle in Europe since the close of World War II. A round of furious diplomatic efforts by European leaders appeared to have come up empty.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, pleaded in recent days for the West to order sanctions on Russia before it began its advance. He said he spoke to Biden about the alarming developments on Monday, and that he planned to speak with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, too.

The situation for Zelenskyy’s country looked increasingly bleak. Bill Browder, a British-based financier who was once the largest foreign investor in Russia, said he was shocked by Putin’s address.

“I’ve watched many Putin speeches over the last two decades and this was the most unhinged, most disconnected from reality and most dangerous speech I’ve ever seen,” Browder, a longtime Putin critic, said in an email. “This is clearly the setup for Putin to launch a vicious and bloody war where there will be substantial loss of life on all sides.”