On Monday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to be sent to the rebel-held Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine. The two regions earlier that evening recognized Putin as an independent nation.
“It means Russia and Ukraine are at war because Russia has invaded the eastern part of the country, but it doesn’t mean that it is a sign of war for the United States, NATO or the West as such,” said Lieutenant Colonel and professor at Defense College, Tormod Heier, to Dagbladet. when the news became known.
Putin’s order has drawn criticism from a number of Western countries, with it clear that Russia’s decision “will not go unpunished”. On Tuesday evening, Norwegian time, the UN Security Council met for an emergency meeting as a result of the development of the conflict.
Russia and Ukraine are at war
– Main consequences
Putin announced the recognition of the two rebel-held territories as independent states in a 65-minute televised address on Monday night.
The decision to send troops to Ukraine was based on the fact that the Russian military would “keep the peace” in the breakaway region in the east of the country.
That’s what the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, thinks is ridiculous.
– To describe Russian troops as “peacekeepers” is nonsense. Russia’s move is clearly the basis for a further invasion of Ukraine, he said during an emergency meeting that ended at around 04.30 on Monday evening, Norwegian time.
The British representative, Barbara Woodward, stated that Putin’s actions would have serious and far-reaching consequences.
– First and foremost for life and health. An invasion of Ukraine will cause war, death and destruction for the Ukrainian people. The humanitarian consequences will be dire for civilians who have to flee the conflict. We already know that women and children suffer the most. Second, it will have an impact on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a United Nations country, while Russia clearly insults international law.
– Attacked
The Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, stressed that the Russian government should take full responsibility for the results of the decisions taken.
He also believes that UN membership is under attack.
– Attacked by a country that occupied part of Georgia in 2008, and which occupied part of Ukraine in 2014.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations and president of the presidency of the Security Council, condemned all the accusations.
He pointed to the need to defend the breakaway areas from alleged Ukrainian aggression, and accused, among other things, of Ukraine doing everything they could to destroy the Minsk agreement, with support from the West.
Norwegian-Ukrainian development company: – We have plans for evacuation
– We are still open to diplomacy and diplomatic solutions, but we will not allow a new massacre in Donbass.
Warning sanction
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj demanded clear support from the West on Tuesday night, but at the same time sought to calm the atmosphere and made it clear that Ukraine “is not afraid of anything or anyone”.
The United States, Britain, France, Canada and the EU announced that they would adopt sanctions and other measures, some of them already on Tuesday.
America on Monday announced a ban on investment and trade in the rebel-held republic.
President Joe Biden, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron made clear that Russia’s plans would not go unnoticed.
Biden also promised Ukrainian President Zelensky that the United States was determined to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
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