Putin moves in eastern Ukraine could be opening phase of possible large-scale invasion, multiple US and western officials say
CNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin's move to recognize breakaway eastern Ukrainian territories as independent could be the opening phase of a larger potential military operation targeting Ukraine, nearly a dozen US and western officials told CNN.
"This is Potemkin politics," a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. "President Putin is accelerating the very conflict that he's created."
The US and western officials said Putin's decision to sign the decrees, which proclaim that the Russia-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) are independent territories, has given Putin the justification he wanted to send in Russian forces and potentially wage a broader assault on Ukraine in the name of protecting the separatist regions.