Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed Russian forces to make a military entry into two Ukrainian regions that have declared their independence from Ukraine via rebel forces.
QUICK FACTS:
- Russian military forces have moved in on two Ukrainian areas where rebels have attempted to declare independence from Ukraine, according to Sputnik News.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has released an official statement, saying that he is only protecting Russia’s border from “neo-Nazis.”
- Putin has also said that Russia has no intention of occupying Ukraine, but that it will defend itself if the need arises.
- The Russian leader also, however, urged Kyiv service members to lay down their arms and remember their “oath to the people, not a junta,” according to Sputnik News.
- As of Wednesday morning, the White House has called the Russian troop movement an “invasion,” that will receive “swift and severe” sanctions, according to Fox News.
PUTIN’S REMARKS:
- “Leading NATO countries pursue their own goal by fully supporting Ukraine’s extreme Nazis and neo-Nazis, who, in turn, will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for their free choice to reunify with Russia,” said the Russian president. “They will, of course, go to Crimea, like to Donbass, the way they do it, to kill, like executioners from the bands of Ukrainian Nazi supporters of Hitler were killing innocent people during World War II.”
- He also acknowledged that a Russian clash with Ukrainian nationalist forces is “inevitable,” saying “Now, they also want to possess nuclear weapons,” referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Kyiv may reconsider the country’s non-nuclear status under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. “We will not let them do that.”
- “The circumstances make us take decisive and immediate actions. The people’s republics of Donbass asked Russia for assistance,” Putin said. “In this regard, in accordance with Article 51, Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council and in pursuance of the friendship and mutual assistance treaties with the DPR and LPR, ratified by the Federal Assembly, I have decided to conduct a special military operation.”
BACKGROUND:
- Russia’s troop movement along Ukraine’s border has prompted the United States to recommend that all American citizens leave the nation.
- One Tampa-based organization is already working to help Americans still in the region to escape Ukraine, according to WUSF Public Media.
