Kyiv calls on West to deter Russia from starting Third World War
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the non-government-controlled parts Ukraine’s Donbas region is another act of aggression against Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official tweeted on Feb. 22.
Denouncing Putin’s decision, the Special Representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for Sanctions Policy, Oleksii Makeiev, urged the West “to prevent World War III.”
“Putin’s decision is another act of aggression against Ukraine and our territorial integrity,” Makeiev wrote.
He said Russia was redrawing borders for the third time in this century.
“No more ‘Putin verstehers’ (a German term, meaning “Putin-understanders” or people sympathetic to Putin and his views) and ‘reset politics’! We call on our partners to form a coalition to prevent Russia from starting the Third World War!”
On Feb. 21, the self-declared leaders of the Russian proxy states in the non-government-controlled parts of the Donbas, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, appealed to Putin with a request to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed “people’s republics.” On the same day, Putin officially recognized the two pseudo-states.
That same day, Putin recognized the so-called “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk amid the looming threat of Russian invasion of Ukraine. Immediately following, Putin signed orders deploying Russian troops into Ukrainian territory.
EU leaders roundly condemned Putin's decision and called it a “blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Minsk agreements.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned Russia's recognition of the self-proclaimed Russian puppet republics and stressed that “Moscow continues to fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine by providing financial and military support to the separatists. It is also trying to stage a pretext to invade Ukraine once again.”
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