Russia Ukraine crisis: World nears full-blown military conflict

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered Russian troops to enter Ukraine’s two Moscow-backed rebel-held areas, dismissing Western threats of sanctions and calling for a UN Security Council emergency to end the fighting. Called a meeting

Earlier, the Kremlin leader acknowledged the independence of two rebel-held areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, paving the way for an operation to deploy a possible offensive force across the country.

In an angry 65-minute televised national address from his office, Putin slammed Ukraine as a failed state and a “puppet” of the West.

Putin said a “long-delayed decision” was needed to immediately recognize the independence of the two regions.

In two government decrees, the Russian president instructed his defense ministry to take up the task of “restoring peace” in the separatist-held territories.

Moscow’s move sparked international condemnation and the promise of targeted sanctions by the United States and the European Union – including a broad package of economic sanctions in the event of further incursions into Ukrainian territory.