Putin To Recognise Ukraine Rebel Territories As Independent: Kremlin

Ukraine-Russia Tensions: Western powers have threatened a crippling sanctions package if Russia invades Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)

New Delhi: President Vladimir Putin said Russia would recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine -- Lugansk and Donetsk -- as independent territories, AFP reported.

Such a recognition will allow Russia to move in troops to protect hundreds of thousands of residents in the regions who have been granted Russian passports, justifying an intervention as a defence of its citizens, AFP reported.

Ukraine on Monday requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address the threat.

The development comes after Putin said he no longer felt that the 2015 peace accord agreed with France, Germany and Kyiv would be able to resolve Ukraine's separatist conflict.

READ | Russian Army Says It Killed 5 'Saboteurs' From Ukraine On Its Territory

"We understand that there are no prospects for the implementation of the 2015 Minsk peace accords, agreed in the capital of Belarus to end fighting between Ukraine's army and pro-Moscow rebels in the east of the country," Putin told his security council, AFP reported.

The Minsk agreements are a series of military and political steps to secure a ceasefire between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatists.

Earlier in the day, the Russian military said that it had killed five "saboteurs" who crossed from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has, however, denied the claims made by Russia. 

"As a result of clashes, five people who violated the Russian border from a group of saboteurs were killed," the military said in a statement, AFP reported.

Tanks, trucks and artillery have been spotted just two and a half miles from Ukrainian territory in Russia's Belgorod region as per new satellite images, a report in The Daily Mail said.

Tensions escalated last week between Moscow and the NATO countries over Russia's increasing military build-up close to the Ukrainian border. The US has estimated that 150,000 Russian troops have amassed near Ukraine. Russia has been denying that it plans to invade Ukraine.

European leaders, like French President Macron and Germany's Scholz, are attempting to broker a diplomatic resolution, urging Putin to hold a summit with his US counterpart Joe Biden.