Defying West, Putin orders troops to Ukraine rebel regions

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 Luhansk regions of Ukraine, paving the way for an operation to deploy part of the potential invasion force he has messed around the country.

In two official decrees, Putin instructed the defence ministry to assume "the function of peacekeeping" in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In the same documents, Putin also ordered his foreign ministry to "establish diplomatic relations" with the "republics' '.

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. 

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 leader also promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Washington was committed to Ukraine's "territorial integrity". 

In Kyiv, 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 Russia's 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 held 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.