War between Russia and Ukraine: latest news of the conflict and NATO’s reaction, live

The Australian Government has ordered all of its diplomats leave Ukraine due to “increasing risk” for the Russian military dispatch to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, self-proclaimed separatist republics, with the aim of “maintaining peace”. In the middle of the month Australia already ordered that all the staff of the Australian Embassy leave Kiev and was providing consular services in the Ukrainian city of Lviv (Lviv), 70 kilometers from the border with Poland.

The high representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, has assured that “the illegal actions of Russia will not go unpunished” and has branded what happened against Ukraine as “frontal aggression”. “I have spoken with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly. We are aligned with our transatlantic partners,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Sanctions on those two regions are just a first step, as Washington and its allies plan to impose “as soon as tomorrow, Tuesday.” new economic punishments on Russia, according to US official sources. For now, Biden has signed an executive order that prohibits new investment, trade and other economic transactions by institutions and US citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk, an action that seeks to isolate those two regions from the international financial system based on the dollar.

Pedro Sánchez has condemned the announcement of the unilateral recognition by Russia of the separatist territories. He has indicated this in a post on Twitter: “The Government of Spain condemns Russia’s unilateral recognition of breakaway territories from eastern Ukraine. It is a violation of the Minsk agreements and international law. We will respond in a coordinated manner with our partners.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Russia’s latest actions as “a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Ukrainian state and has placed all the responsibility on the Russian political leadership. “The recognition of the independence of the occupied districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions may mean Russia’s unilateral withdrawal from the Minsk agreements and disregard of decisions within the ‘Norman format,'” she said.

United States President Joe Biden has signed an executive order U.S. persons and entities are prohibited from investing in or trading with the secessionist Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in response to the recognition of its independence by Russia. Biden’s decree also attributes to the US president the ability to “impose sanctions on anyone determined to operate in the pro-Russian republics. The White House has explained after publishing the executive order that these restrictions seek to “prevent Russia from having the opportunity to benefit from its flagrant violations of International Law.”

The British Government’s emergency cabinet (COBR) will meet this Tuesday to address the latest developments in Ukraine and agree on a “significant package of sanctions” against Russia to be applied immediately. “The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) will chair a COBR to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and coordinate the UK’s response, including a significant package of sanctions to be introduced immediately,” a Downing Street spokesman said. These first measures against Moscow and its allies will come shortly after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Lugansk and Donetskand has decided to send troops to Donbas (eastern Ukraine).

Russian military will be deployed in the territories of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, recognized this Monday by Moscow, to exercise pacification functions, according to two decrees signed by the Russian president, VladImir Putin. According to the documents, the Russian military will “guarantee peace” in those territories until the signing of agreements on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Aid between both entities and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the decision on Monday to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk after receiving a request in this regard from their respective leaders and once the Duma (Lower House of the Russian Parliament) sent him last 15 February a resolution to urge you to take that step.

in the report light weapons fired at a drone from the observer mission in Staromijailivka, in Donetsk, and of explosions near the observer positions in Mikolaivka and Horlivka, both in Donetsk. There have also been violations of the ceasefire in Stanitsa Luganska and Petrivske and new craters have been detected due to the impact of projectiles in the part of Zolote controlled by government forces.

The observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine reported on Monday a total of 3,231 violations of the ceasefire provided for in the Minsk agreements. The OSCE report lists 2,158 breaches in the Donetsk region –including 1,100 explosions–, almost four times more than in the previous day’s report. In Lugansk there have been 1,073 violations of the ceasefire, of which 926 correspond to explosions, figures very similar to those in the report on Sunday.