Putin Declares 6,500 Square Miles of Ukraine Is No Longer Ukraine
President Putin has unilaterally declared that two chunks of Eastern Ukraine should be considered independent states in a dramatic escalation that many fear could lead to all-out war.
In an address to his nation on Monday, the Russian president formally announced the “the immediate recognition” of the pro-Kremlin regions of Luhansk and Donetsk—which stretch over 6,500 miles—as independent of Ukraine.
The move follows a spectacularly bizarre meeting by Russia’s Security Council, where Putin appeared like a mob boss testing his underlings, as officials, one after another, spoke out in favor of recognizing the self-proclaimed republics.