Following President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, the US and its European allies are likely to announce further sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, heightening Western concerns of a new European conflict. As ceasefire violations increased, the Ukrainian military reported two personnel killed and 12 injured in the past 24 hours in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the east, the highest number of casualties this year.
Putin’s announcement on Monday, as well as his signing of a decree authorizing the deployment of Russian troops in the two breakaway regions, drew widespread condemnation and immediate US sanctions, with President Joe Biden signing an executive order prohibiting US business activity in the two breakaway regions. On Tuesday, rising war worries drove oil prices to a seven-year high, while safe-haven currencies like the yen soared and global markets fell.
West Reacts
However, a senior US source said that because Russia already had soldiers in the separatist areas, the strongest penalties the US and its partners had prepared in the case of a full-scale invasion were unnecessary. Putin had clearly chosen conflict over conversation, according to a senior British government minister, and Britain will respond with sanctions. Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health, said, “You may assume that the invasion of Ukraine has begun.”
He compared the scenario to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the United States and the Soviet Union clashed, and the world was on the verge of nuclear Armageddon.
Russia has denied plotting an invasion on Ukraine, but it has massed troops on the country’s borders and threatened “military-technical” action unless it obtains extensive security assurances, including Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the recognition of the two areas had no bearing on Russia’s willingness for negotiations with the US.
The United Kingdom said on Tuesday that it has drafted penalties to punish individuals involved in the breach of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and that the measures will take
