![]({"default":{"load":"defer","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AATHR1T.img?h=100&w=100&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&x=579&y=303"}})
![]({"default":{"load":"defer","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAU8tqJ.img?h=100&w=100&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&x=565&y=232"}})
LIVE – Updated at 07:54
Latest updates: US ambassador to UN says Putin’s claims about ‘peacekeeping’ operation are ‘nonsense’.
Russian state Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov, who chairs the Duma’s committee on post-Soviet affairs, said that Russia will recognise the independence of the whole of Donetsk and Luhanks regions in eastern Ukraine, according to Moscow Times reporter Pjotr Sauer.
Currently, only one-third of the territories is controlled by the Russian-backed separatists.
State Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov, who chairs the Duma’s committee on post-Soviet affairs said that Russia will recognize the independents within the whole of Donetsk and Luhanks oblast. Only 1/3 is now controlled by the separatists and this is a development many feared https://t.co/e4AyCfZlPG
— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) February 22, 2022