Joe Biden will issue sanctions Monday on two areas declared ‘independent’ republics by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is his first step towards full-scale invasion.
Jen Psaki White House Press Secretary assured there would be additional coordination with U.S allies and partners in case Russia invades Ukraine.
She wrote that she was continuing to consult closely with Allies, partners, and Ukraine on the next steps, and Russia’s ongoing aggression along Ukraine’s border.
Biden called Volodymyr Zelesky, the Ukrainian president, almost instantly and convened an NSC meeting after Vladimir Putin attacked America for “colonizing” Ukraine. He also accused them of using Ukraine as a puppet regime in comments where he said he would sign a decree that recognizes two of Ukraine’s eastern regions as independent states.
The President also jumped onto a secure conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This was approximately half an hour after Putin’s statements.
Putin’s acceptance of Donetsk, Luhansk rebel areas’ independence opens up for the Russian invasion. This effectively disintegrates the Minsk Peace Agreements. Russia can sign treaties and send weapons and troops to the region to defend itself against Ukrainian “threats”.
U.S intelligence warned that Putin will use this method to hide his invasion in Ukraine for many weeks.
Putin complained Monday in his speech that America was ‘pumping’ weapons into Ukraine. He also said it poses a threat Russia as he believes Kyiv has created ‘weapons to mass destruction.
Psaki stated Monday, following Putin’s comments that “We had expected a move such as this from Russia” and she was prepared to immediately respond.
President Biden will issue soon an Executive order that will ban new investments, trade and funding by U.S. personnel to, from, and in the so called DNR and LNR region of Ukraine. She also added that the Departments of State and Treasury would have more details within the next few days.
“We will soon announce additional steps related to the blatant violation by Russia of its international obligations today,” Psaki said.
21 members of Congress, including 21 from both parties, pledged Monday that they would work to create emergency legislation which will be most supportive of NATO allies and people in Ukraine.
They wrote that despite what might happen in the future, they must ensure that Putin’s dictator and his corrupt oligarchs will pay a terrible price for their actions.
Zelensky stated that he spoke to Biden Monday afternoon about ‘the last hours’.
He posted: “We start the meeting of National Security and Defense Council,” adding that ‘A conversation is with [UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson is also planned.’
According to the White House, Biden had a call of approximately 35 minutes with Zelelnsky.
On Monday morning, General Mark Milley was seen arriving as Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary and Antony Blinken arrived at the White House West Wing.
A White House official said that President Biden was meeting today with his National Security Team at the White House and being updated on recent developments in Russia and Ukraine.
Monday’s announcement by the White House that President Joe Biden would sign an Executive Order to impose economic sanctions on two Russian regions it has just recognized as independent “republics” within Eastern Ukraine was made.
The President of USA Joe Biden called Volodymyr Zelesky, the Ukrainian President on Monday for a 30-minute conversation. He ‘discussed events in the last hour’ following Russia’s first step toward invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a televised address Monday and explained he would sign a decree recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk rebel regions in Eastern Ukraine as independent ‘republics’
Biden met with his National Security Council to discuss recent developments in Eastern Europe. The west still hopes for a diplomatic way forward.
Putin assembled his circle of friends on Monday, as top aides continued to warn him against meeting with President Joe Biden.
Putin stated that they had been in negotiations for 8 years and added, “We have reached an impasse.”
This move will fuel tensions with the West, and reduce diplomatic options to avoid war. It is an explicit rejection a ceasefire of seven years mediated France and Germany. However, it remains the basis for future negotiations about the larger crisis.
Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Russia would need to respond quickly and in coordination with its Allies and allies if it took the same action as it did Monday.
It would also undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, which used to be a Soviet Bloc country.
Biden met Monday with his national security staff to discuss the matter, after being rebuffed earlier that day at a summit between Putin and him.
France claims to have arranged a meeting between these leaders next week. The White House accepted this ‘in principle’ before the Kremlin stated that talks are ‘premature and there were no concrete plans.
It’s the second time French President Emmanuel Macron has fallen prey to Moscow, having tried to present himself as Europe’s most important security negotiator.
Macron claimed that Putin agreed to halt military drills at Ukraine’s borders two weeks prior, which Russia instantly denied.
According to the Kremlin, Macron and Olaf Scholz expressed disappointment at Putin’s decision during phone conversations with Russian President.
Putin convened a meeting with his top security officials Monday where he called them up one by one to lay out the case for recognizing eastern Ukrainian regions as independent republics – seemingly aimed at persuading a skeptical public of the need to attack
U.S. intelligence warned for years that Russia could invade Ukraine, stating it must protect the interests Russian-speakers and separatist ethnic Russians in Ukraine. A handout image shows Russian cruiser Moskva conducting an artillery battle and destroying a mock enemy submarine in the Black Sea near Sevastopol, Crimea on February 18, 2022
Putin had earlier on Monday vowed that he would decide “today” whether Ukraine’s east regions will be recognized as independent states. This was in a remark made at the end of an hour-long meeting of the security council, which was broadcast live on Russian TV.
One by one, top Kremlin security officials were asked to make the case against war. It was presumably done in order to convince a skeptical audience of the importance to strike.
Ministers spent many days staging what were widely thought to be fake flag attacks on Ukrainian soil. Blaming Kyiv for them, they presented Putin the evidence today. They claimed that Russians from Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, regions face a threat of ‘genocide’ and that no peace agreement can save them.
The spectacle had been staged, and the West was warning that an invasion was imminent. However, keen-eyed viewers saw that Sergei Shoigu the defense minister’s time was five hours behind Moscow. It suggests the hearing was prerecorded.
After earlier videos showing tanks and armored vehicle in battle formations – some less than 3 miles away from the border, all eyes now will be on Ukraine’s borders for proof that Russian troops crossed.
Dymtro Kuleba (defense minister of Ukraine) stated that after the Russian Council meeting, ‘the whole world will be watching’ what Putin does next. He claimed that everyone is aware of the implications of Russia’s recognition and support for separatist regions.
“All of us should focus calmly on the de-escalation efforts. [there is]”No other way,” he wrote.
The U.S. warned the United Nations Security Council about Moscow’s prepared list of targets that could be used to assassinate and imprison detainees in camps.
NBC News reports that Biden officials discussed with Ukrainian officials the need for President Volodymyr Zilensky’s departure from Kyiv should a Russian invasion occur.
Pictured: Biden convened Sunday’s meeting of the National Security Council in order to review the most recent developments concerning Russia’s planned invasion of Ukraine
According to Ukraine’s national police, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three others were injured in the shelling attack on Zaitseve. The village is 18 miles from rebel stronghold Donetsk.
Scholz from Germany phoned Putin on Monday and warned him not to recognize the east regions. Also, he said that Putin would have to take responsibility for deescalating tensions by withdrawing troops from the border.
Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor to Russia said that Russia intends to ‘crush Ukraine’ if it makes a decision to invade full-scale.
Sullivan said Monday that any military operation with the same scale, extent, and severity as what the Russians believe they are planning would be very violent. It could lead to the deaths of civilians as well Russians.
“But, we also have intelligence that suggests there will be an even more brutal form of war, since this won’t simply be a conventional war between two armsies,” he said.
“Russia will wage war on Ukraine to oppress, crush, and harm its people. This is the detail we gave to the U.N. as we believed that the world needed to mobilize in order counter Russian aggression should the tanks move across the border, which we expect they will in the next hours or days.
The Russian border troops to Ukraine now number around 190,000, with three quarters being conventional. These forces are supported by 500 fighter planes and heavy bombers as well as dozens attack helicopters.
Good Morning America reported that Moscow was moving ahead with its plans to invade the United States after it rejected Biden’s offer of a summit under the caveat Russia must stand down.
He stated that ‘we never lose hope in diplomacy, even if the missiles go off or the tanks start rolling’. ‘But we have been working hard for months with our allies and partners to get Russia to sit down in a serious way at the table – even as recently as yesterday, the president has indicated his readiness to do that. Russia has not been as open to the idea.
‘The likelihood that there’s a diplomatic solution, given the movements – the troop movements of the Russians, is diminishing hour by hour,’ Sullivan added.
“Unfortunately we had to call out at each step of the process what the Russians planned to do, and they did it.