A plane carrying former US President Donald Trump made an emergency landing in New Orleans on Saturday evening after experiencing engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Wednesday.

The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, had gone about 75 miles from a New Orleans airport before turning back to the city, the person said. Other passengers included Secret Service agents, support staff and some of Trump’s advisers.

A Trump representative did not immediately return a request for comment on the incident.

The plane was returning Trump to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, from a New Orleans hotel where he was speaking to Republican Party donors at a private event, the person said.

The plane belonged to a donor who loaned it to the former president for the evening, the source said, and Trump advisers secured another donor’s plane to take him back to Florida.

The incident was first reported on Wednesday by Politico and the Washington Post.

(Source: Reuters)

Russian forces said they had captured a Ukrainian port on Wednesday as Russian and Ukrainian troops battled for another urban centre and President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow wanted to “erase” his country.

As the conflict intensified further on the seventh day of the invasion, the Russian army said it had taken control of the Black Sea port of Kherson in southern Ukraine.

Russian paratroopers also landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, triggering clashes in the streets, Ukrainian forces said.

After Washington branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a “dictator”, Ukraine’s leader said a strike on Tuesday on a television mast in the capital Kyiv demonstrated Russia’s threat to Ukrainian identity.

Five people were killed in the attack on the tower at Babi Yar, the site of a Nazi massacre in which over 33,000 people were killed — most of them Jews.

“They know nothing about our capital. About our history. But they have an order to erase our history. Erase our country. Erase us all,” Zelensky said in a video.

The 44-year-old, who is himself Jewish, urged Jewish people around the world to speak up.

“I am now addressing all the Jews of the world. Don’t you see what is happening? That is why it is very important that millions of Jews around the world not remain silent right now,” he said.

“Nazism is born in silence. So shout about killings of civilians. Shout about the murders of Ukrainians.”

Ukraine says more than 350 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed in the conflict and the International Criminal Court has opened a war crimes investigation against Russia.

In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden warned the sanctions campaign to cripple Russia’s economy would escalate and its oligarchs were being targeted.

Biden hailed the resolve of the Western alliance and voiced solidarity with Ukraine as lawmakers in the US Congress gave a standing ovation to the Ukrainian people.

“A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world,” Biden told lawmakers, promising “robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at Russia’s economy.”

Fight for Kharkiv

Russian troops rolled into Ukraine last week to achieve Putin’s mission of overthrowing Zelensky’s pro-Western government, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing across Ukraine’s borders.

Russian forces have carried out a massive bombing campaign and encircled urban centres, but Ukrainian troops fought off the advance on major cities.

On Wednesday, however, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian forces were in “full control” of Kherson, a city with a population of 290,000 people.

Konashenkov said in televised remarks that public services and transport were operating as usual.

“The city is not experiencing shortages of food and essential goods,” he said.

He said talks were under way between the Russian army and local authorities on maintaining order, protecting the population and keeping public services functioning.

Kherson’s mayor Igor Kolykhaiev said in a post on Facebook: “We are still Ukraine. Still firm.”

Apparently contradicting the Russian army’s claims, he said he needed to find a way to “collect the (bodies of the) dead” and “restore electricity, gas, water and heating where they are damaged.”

Ukraine’s army said Russian paratroopers had also landed in Kharkiv, a city in northeast Ukraine near the Russian border with a population of 1.4 million.

“There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians,” the army said in a statement on messaging app Telegram.

AFP in Kharkiv saw rocket damage on security, police and university buildings.

Ukrainian forces said Russian strikes hit a residential block and a government building in the city on Tuesday killing 18 people, drawing comparisons to the massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s and condemnation for what Zelensky called a “war crime”.

‘Putin was wrong’

Western countries have imposed crippling sanctions on Russia’s economy and there have been international bans and boycotts against Russia in everything from finance to tech, from sports to the arts.

The EU and NATO members have also sent arms and ammunition to Ukraine, although they have made clear that they will not send troops and the EU has dampened Zelensky’s hopes of membership of the bloc.

In his speech in Washington on Tuesday, Biden announced new measures against Russia and its wealthy elite with a new task force to go after the “crimes” of Russian oligarchs.

“And tonight I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights — further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy.”

The US leader said Putin’s aggression was “premeditated and totally unprovoked” — but hailed the resolve of the Western alliance in responding with brutal sanctions.

‘Russia will be a pariah’

In response to the invasion, Western companies have also withdrawn from projects in Russia, deepening the economic toll on Moscow that saw the ruble collapse this week.

Apple, ExxonMobil and Boeing announced Tuesday in rapid succession steps to withdraw or freeze business in Russia.

The moves followed earlier announcements by Disney, Ford and Mastercard among others.

“Going forward, Russia will be a pariah, and it’s hard to see how they can restore anything resembling normal interactions in the international system,” said Sarah Kreps, professor at Cornell University.

The invasion has sent global markets into a spiral, with crude surging past $110 a barrel Wednesday and equities sinking.

No escape

Initial talks between Russia and Ukraine on Monday failed to yield any breakthrough.

Since then, Russian forces have pounded Ukraine.

Strikes were reported in Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine, Bordodyanka near Kyiv and Zhytomyr in central Ukraine.

In an important strategic victory, Russian troops attacking from the Crimean peninsula said they had linked up along the Azov Sea coast with pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The separatists said the city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea was encircled.

Ukraine says almost 6,000 Russian troops had been killed. Moscow has not revealed any casualties.

As fears grew of an all-out assault on Kyiv, residents spent another night crammed into makeshift bomb shelters.

“We have train tickets for western Ukraine for tomorrow,” she told AFP as air raid sirens blared directly overhead.

“I don’t think we will make the train.”

Source:  AFP

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) calls for a “rare emergency” meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) over the situation in Ukraine as the US and its Western allies keep up their efforts to target Russia before the world body.

The Council voted on Sunday in favor of the meeting of the 193-member General Assembly, Reuters reported. The resolution convening the Assembly was adopted with 11 yes votes.

Russia voted against it, but could not block the bid as the vote was “procedural” in nature. China, India, and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

The regions broke away from Ukraine in 2014 after refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.

More than 14,000 people have been killed so far across the regions as a result of the conflict that ensued between the Ukrainian military and the pro-Russian separatists.

Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”

The UNGA session is to be held on Monday, and is expected to vote in favor of an anti-Russian resolution as early as Wednesday.

Moscow will not be able to sway its veto power at the General Assembly, whose resolutions are non-binding.

At the request of the Western allies, the Security Council has met four times so far to address the situation in Ukraine.

During a session on Friday, it tried to pass a United States- and Albania-drafted anti-Russia resolution.

Russia, however, struck down the resolution by casting its veto against it.

Source: Presstv

Russian President Vladimir Putin puts the country’s nuclear deterrence forces on “high alert,” reacting to aggressive statements by NATO’s leading members.

“Top officials of leading NATO nations indulge in making aggressive statements about our country,” Putin told a briefing on Sunday.

“Therefore, I am ordering the minister of defense and the chief of the general staff to put the deterrence forces of the Russian army into special combat duty mode,” he added.

The announcement came a day after Germany and other European countries said they would speed weapons and other military assistance to help Ukraine battle Russian forces. It also followed a warning by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss that if Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was not “stopped,” it could lead to a conflict with NATO.

“…if we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, we are going to see others under threat: the Baltics, Poland, Moldova. And it could end up in a conflict with NATO,” Truss said on Sunday.

NATO has escalated its war of words against Russia since Thursday, when Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

The regions broke away from Ukraine in 2014 after refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.

More than 14,000 people have been killed so far across the regions as a result of the conflict that ensued between the Ukrainian military and the pro-Russian separatists.

Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”

Sources

President Joe Biden has selected federal appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, the White House said on Friday, setting the stage for a confirmation battle in the closely divided Senate.

Biden picked Jackson, 51, for a lifetime job on the nation’s top judicial body to succeed retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who at 83 is the court’s oldest member. Of the 115 people who have ever served on the Supreme Court, only two have been Black and both of those were men.

The timing of Biden’s announcement had been in flux because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“President Biden sought a candidate with exceptional credentials, unimpeachable character and unwavering dedication to the rule of law,” the White House said in a statement.

“He also sought a nominee – much like Justice Breyer – who is wise, pragmatic and has a deep understanding of the Constitution as an enduring charter of liberty,” the White House said of Biden’s selection process. “And the president sought an individual who is committed to equal justice under the law and who understands the profound impact that the Supreme Court’s decisions have on the lives of the American people.”

Jackson, if confirmed by the Senate, would become the sixth woman ever to serve on the court, which currently has three female justices. She would join the liberal bloc on an increasingly assertive court that has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.

Other contenders for the nomination were J. Michelle Childs, a district court judge in South Carolina and Leondra Kruger, a justice on the California Supreme Court.

The Senate voted 53-44 last year to confirm Jackson after Biden nominated her to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, with three Republican senators backing her. At Jackson’s confirmation hearing last year, Republicans questioned her on whether race plays a role in her approach to deciding cases. She said it did not. The Senate previously confirmed her as a federal district judge, a job she held for eight years.

Jackson, who was raised in Miami and attended Harvard Law School, has a varied legal resume including earlier in her career representing criminal defendants who could not afford a lawyer. She was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in December against Republican former President Donald Trump’s bid to prevent White House records from being handed over to a congressional panel investigating last year’s Capitol attack.

Democrats are eager to move forward with the confirmation process while they control the Senate. Breyer, who has served since 1994, announced in January his intention to step down when the court completes its current term, likely by the end of June.

While Biden’s appointee will not change the court’s ideological balance – Jackson would be replacing a fellow liberal – her addition does enable Biden to refresh its liberal wing with a much younger jurist who could serve for decades, just as Trump’s three relatively young appointees are in a position to do.

The nomination also gives Biden a chance to shore up political support among women, minorities and liberals ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections in which Democrats are fighting to retain control of both chambers of Congress. Biden’s strength among suburban women, seen as a key reason for his victory over Trump, has eroded since taking office last year, worrying his political aides.

Confirmation process

The Senate confirmation process includes hearings before the Judiciary Committee, whose chairman is Democrat Dick Durbin and whose top Republican is Chuck Grassley. Democrats control the evenly split 100-member Senate because of the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to break a tie. Biden made history in 2020 when he made Harris the first Black vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket.

Biden, a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, studied the case records of the candidates he was considering and consulted legal experts, the White House said.

Illustrating the precarious nature of the Democrats’ control of the Senate, they currently lack a working majority after Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan had a stroke. He is expected to recover in time to vote on the nomination.

Because of a rules change spearheaded by Republicans to ease the confirmation of Trump’s first nominee Neil Gorsuch in 2017 amid Democratic opposition, only a simple Senate majority vote is needed to confirm Biden’s pick.

Democrats have said they plan to move Biden’s nomination on a quick timetable, similar to the single month that Republicans used for Trump’s third appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.

The White House has signaled it will fight back vigorously against Republican attempts to discredit the nominee. Some Republicans have accused Biden of discrimination for pledging to name a Black woman to the post without considering any men or non-Black women. Biden said in January a Black woman serving on the Supreme Court was long overdue.

The Supreme Court continues to play an integral role in American life and has moved rightward thanks to Trump’s three appointees. It is due to rule in the coming months in cases that could curb abortion rights and expand gun rights. In its term beginning next October the court is due to hear cases concerning race issues that could end affirmative action policies used by colleges and universities to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students.

Source: REUTERS

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued for the second day, with explosions reported in Kiev as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rued being “left alone” by the West and announced readiness to declare neutrality.

Russia’s forces pressed deep into Ukraine as deadly battles reached the outskirts of Kiev. 

They captured Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea, where 82 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to them, Russia’s defense ministry said. Ukrainian authorities said intense fighting was underway in the city of Sumy in the country’s northeast.

The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said two explosions were heard in Kiev. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, said they emanated from the sounds of air defenses firing at an aircraft that was downed.

Kiev municipal authorities said at least eight people were injured when the aircraft crashed into an apartment block and set it on fire. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kiev had come under “horrific Russian rocket strikes.”

Ukraine’s nuclear agency said it was recording increased radiation levels from the site of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Experts at the agency did not provide exact radiation levels but said the change was due to the movement of heavy military equipment in the area lifting radioactive dust into the air.

A spokesman for Russia’s defense ministry said Moscow will deploy paratroopers to help guard the nuclear power plant near Ukraine’s capital.

Radiation levels at the plant are normal, the spokesman told a briefing. Russian troops have destroyed 118 Ukrainian military infrastructure sites, he said.

Meanwhile, the governor of Russia’s southern Belgorod province said that seven residential buildings in the region had been damaged by shelling from Ukraine.

Kremlin: Russia willing to negotiate Ukraine’s surrender

In a statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would come to the negotiating table on the condition that Ukraine promised to be neutral, not aspire to be a NATO member and also not keep any Western weaponry on its territory.

Peskov underlined that discussions over the terms of surrender would generally involve “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine.

President Zelensky said he is not afraid of talking about neutrality as his request for NATO accession went unanswered by European leaders.

Russia: First day of military operation ‘successful’

Late on Thursday, Russia’s military said it had “successfully” achieved its goals outlined for the first day of conflict with Ukrainian troops over the Donbas region.

“All of the tasks assigned to the groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for the day were successfully completed,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov added that the Russian military had eliminated Ukraine’s air defenses and was in control of the skies over the former Soviet republic.

Ukraine ‘left alone’ 

Zelensky said his country had been left on its own to fight Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

“We have been left alone to defend our state,” Zelensky said in a post-midnight video address to the nation. “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.”

Zelensky said that 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed since the beginning of the attack, and 316 more had been wounded.

He said Russian “sabotage groups” had entered Kiev, and urged locals to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.

The Ukrainian president said he and his family remained in the country, despite Russia identifying him as “target number one.”

The UN refugee agency said around 100,000 people had been internally displaced while several thousand more had left Ukraine since the fighting erupted.

Kiev has declared martial law. It claims to have killed 50 Russian troops and shot down six Russian aircraft, an allegation that has not been independently verified.

EU slaps ‘harshest’ sanctions on Russia

Early Friday, the European Union announced what it called “the harshest package of sanctions” on Moscow, targeting 70 percent of the Russian banking sector and key state-owned companies.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, made the announcement in a press conference after an emergency meeting with leaders of the 27-member bloc.

She said the new round of sanctions “will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its action, in close coordination with our partners and allies.”

Von der Leyen said Russian assets in the EU would be frozen and Russian banks’ access to Europe’s financial markets would also be blocked.

The package of massive and targeted sanctions approved tonight shows how united the EU is.

The EU, however, faced strong criticism from Kiev as European leaders decided against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.

With casualties mounting, the Ukrainian foreign minister warned that the European and US politicians would have “blood on their hands” if they failed to impose the heaviest toll on Moscow by cutting Russia from the so-called Swift payments system.

“I will not be diplomatic on this,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from Swift has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women, and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.”

I will not be diplomatic on this. Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from SWIFT has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 24, 2022

The United States announced a wave of new sanctions on Moscow on Thursday, targeting five major Russian banks.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced sanctions against some 60 individuals and entities. Australia and the UK have taken similar measures.

Macron: Useful to ‘leave the path open’ for dialogue 

French President Emmanuel Macron, however, said Friday that “while condemning, while sanctioning” it remained useful “to leave this path open so that the day when the conditions can be fulfilled, we can obtain a cessation of hostilities.”

Macron was the only Western leader on Thursday to speak to Putin. The Kremlin said Putin held a “frank” conversation with the French leader.

“After having spoken with the Ukrainian president, and in coordination with him, the president (Macron) called Vladimir Putin to demand the immediate halt of Russian military operations, noting that Russia risked massive sanctions,” the Elysee said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, however, said the Russian leader needs to understand that NATO is a nuclear alliance even as he ruled out the alliance’s intervention to defend Ukraine.

Asked whether Putin’s threat of “such consequences that you have never encountered in your history” was tantamount to threatening Russian use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict, Le Drian said it was indeed understood as such.

“Yes, I think that Vladimir Putin must also understand that the Atlantic alliance is a nuclear alliance. That is all I will say about this,” he said on French television TF1.

Le Drian also said Ukraine had made a list for weapons they needed and “we are studying that list in order to meet their requests as soon as possible”, but emphasized that Europe and NATO were not looking for a military intervention.

“Strangling Russia economically and financially will in the long run be stronger than any intervention,” he said.

On Friday, Macron said France was speeding up its deployment of troops to bolster NATO’s eastern flank in Romania.

Talking after an emergency summit with European Union leaders, Macron said he was “accelerating” the dispatch of forces.

Meanwhile, the United States said Thursday it was sending another 7,000 troops to Germany.

NATO is looking to establish battle groups in the southeast of the alliance, including in Romania. France has offered to lead the new deployment in that country.

Pelosi: US to provide $600mn for new Ukraine weapons

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers want to provide Ukraine with $600 million for “lethal defense weapons”.

“What we’re doing with Ukraine is making sure that we have humanitarian assistance to help the people; that we have lethal defense weapons going into Ukraine to the tune of $600 million for them to fight their own fight,” she told reporters in San Francisco.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba earlier said he had spoken to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who told him about “plans to deliver new defensive weapons to help Ukraine defend itself.”

Culled from Press TV

Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early Friday as Russian forces pressed on with a full-scale invasion that resulted in the deaths of at least 137 Ukrainians in the first day of fighting. The attack on Kyiv as the war entered its second day is part of what Western officials suspect is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the Ukrainian government and replace it with his own regime. Follow our liveblog for updates on the latest developments.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned Russia for “horrific rocket strikes” that shook the capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday morning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Friday that Russian “sabotage groups” have entered Kyiv and urged citizens to remain vigilant.

Zelensky declared a general mobilisation early Friday morning local time, calling up conscripts and reservists nationwide to fight invading Russian forces.

Zelensky said 137 Ukrainians, both military and civilian, were killed and 316 wounded in the first day of fighting.

Russian troops fought with Ukrainian forces Thursday for control of military installations across the country. The Russian army claimed to have destroyed 74 military facilities, including 11 airfields in Ukraine, while a Ukrainian official said Russian forces had captured the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant, just 90 km north of Kyiv.

Zelensky has promised to resist the invasion, saying a “new iron curtain” now separates Russia from the rest of the world.

Source: France 24

Russian troops launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen”. World leaders decried the start of a long-anticipated invasion with far-reaching consequences and reports of casualties on both sides. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine, in a surprise televised address shortly before 6am local time. He warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with Russia’s invasion would lead to “consequences they have never seen”.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and other Ukrainian cities. Interfax Ukraine reported rocket attacks on military facilities throughout the country, as well as staff and passengers evacuating Kyiv’s Boryspil airport.

US President Joe Biden, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, French President Emmanuel Macron and other international leaders swiftly condemned the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released an emotional video address early Thursday morning local time, appealing to Russians not to support a “major war in Europe”.

The EU on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and military chiefs as part of a package of measures over the Kremlin’s recognition of two separatist Ukrainian regions as independent.

Source: France 24

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into two Moscow-backed rebel regions of Ukraine on Monday, defying Western threats of sanctions in a move that could set off a potentially catastrophic war with Kyiv. 

Earlier, the Kremlin leader had recognised the independence of two rebel-held areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, paving the way for an operation to deploy part of the potential invasion force he has massed around the country.

In two official decrees, Putin instructed the defence ministry to assume “the function of peacekeeping” in the separatist-held regions.

The recognition of the breakaway republics, which form an enclave held by Russia-backed rebels since 2014, triggered international condemnation and a promise of targeted sanctions from the United States and the European Union – with a broader package of economic punishment to come in the event of invasion.

As news of the late-night recognition hit the streets of Kyiv, many were in disbelief, but ready to defend their country if called on.

‘Scariest news’ in 8 years

“I am very shocked,” Artem Ivaschenko, a 22-year-old cook originally from Donetsk, told AFP in the capital, calling the recognition the “scariest news” since he had fled the region eight years ago.

“I live here, I already lost a part of my homeland, it was taken away, so I will protect it.”

After a flurry of calls, US President Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that Moscow’s gambit “would not go unanswered”.

The US announced its first sanctions, with the White House saying Biden will issue an executive order to “prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in” the two rebel regions.

A French presidential official said the European Union was preparing a list of Russian entities and individuals to sanction in a “proportionate” response to the recognition.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting of his national security council and was due to make a speech later in the night.   

Earlier, in an often angry 65-minute televised national address from his Kremlin office, Putin railed against ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine as a failed state and “puppet” of the West, repeatedly suggesting it was essentially part of Russia.

He accused the authorities in Kyiv of persecuting Russian speakers and of preparing a “blitzkrieg” against the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in Ukraine’s east.

“As for those who seized and hold power in Kyiv, we demand an immediate end to their military operations,” Putin said.

“Otherwise, all responsibility for the possible continuation of bloodshed will be fully on the conscience of the regime in power in Ukraine.”

Putin said it was necessary to “take a long overdue decision, to immediately recognise the independence” of the two regions.

He then signed partnership agreements with the rebels that declared the presence of Russian military forces “necessary to maintain peace… and ensure reliable security.”

EU ‘will react with sanctions’

The recognition effectively puts an end to an already shaky peace plan in the separatist conflict, which has rumbled on since 2014, after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and has left more than 14,000 dead.

Russia will now deploy troops with the support of separatist officials and Ukraine will either have to accept the loss of a huge chunk of territory or face an armed conflict against its vastly more powerful neighbour.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the move “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of the Ukraine”, with the UK cabinet’s emergency COBR committee due to meet Tuesday and foreign minister Liz Truss promising “new sanctions on Russia.”

EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel promised the bloc “will react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act”.

The United States and allies including France requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council later Monday.

Putin told his Security Council earlier Monday that there were “no prospects” for the 2015 Minsk peace accords aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict.

‘Very big threat’ to Russia

And he made clear the stakes were bigger than Ukraine, whose efforts to join NATO and the European Union have deeply angered Moscow.

“The use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with our country poses a serious, very big threat to us,” Putin said.

The dramatic meeting – with Putin sitting alone at a desk as his government, military and security chiefs took turns addressing him from a podium – came after weeks of tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.

Western leaders warned that Russia was planning to invade its pro-Western neighbour after massing more than 150,000 troops on its borders, a claim Moscow repeatedly denied.

Tensions then spiked in recent days after an outbreak of heavy shellfire on Ukraine’s eastern frontline with the separatists and a series of reported incidents on the border with Russia.

Monitors from the OSCE European security body on Monday reported more than 3,000 new ceasefire violations in east Ukraine the day before, a high for the year.

Ukrainian officials said two soldiers and a civilian died in more shelling of frontline villages Monday.

Source: AFP