Ukraine latest: Blinken calls off meeting with Lavrov

Washington, Feb 23: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday evening that he called off a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov planned for Thursday, in another sign that immediate diplomatic solutions to solving the tensions in Ukraine are becoming less likely.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken said he agreed to meeting Lavrov on the condition that Russia not "invade" Ukraine.

"Now that we see the invasion is beginning, and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time," Blinken said.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin singed a decree recognizing two regions in eastern Ukraine claimed by Moscow-backed separatists as "independent" and ordered the deployment of Russian troops to the regions.

However, Blinken added that the US remains committed to diplomacy "if Moscow's approach changes."

He added that he would do anything to prevent "an even worse-case scenario, an all-out assault on all of Ukraine, including its capital."

"But we will not allow Russia to claim the pretense of diplomacy at the same time it accelerates its march down the path of conflict and war," Blinken said.

Blinken condemned Putin's speech on the recognition of eastern Ukraine's two breakaway republics, calling it "deeply disturbing" and contending that Putin was "undoing more than 30 years' worth of painstaking diplomacy."

The White House on Tuesday said plans for a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Putin are currently off the table.

"We're never going to completely close the door to diplomacy," said White House spokeswomen Jen Psaki, while adding that change of course from Moscow is needed.

UN calls Russian troop deployment 'perversion of peacekeeping'

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the deployment of Russian troops to eastern Ukraine, and rejected Russia's characterization of the troops as "peacekeepers."

"When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers, they are not peacekeepers at all," Guterres said on Tuesday, while calling Russia's designation a "perversion of the concept of peacekeeping."

Guterres also said that Russia's declaration of the "so-called 'independence''' of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine was a violation of its territorial integrity.

The UN chief added that the world is facing "the biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years'' and called for de-escalation.

"We need restraint and reason. We need de-escalation now," Guterres said. "I urge all to refrain from actions and statements that would take this dangerous situation over the brink."

New Russian troop movements seen near Ukraine

US imaging technology firm Maxar reported that satellite imagery over the past 24 hours showed several new troop and equipment movements in western Russia and more than 100 vehicles in a small airfield in southern Belarus bordering Ukraine.

The firm said that heavy equipment transporters, used for moving tanks and artillery, were seen near the Ukraine border.

According to Maxar, the images also showed a new field hospital had been added to a military garrison in western Russia.

Major developments from Tuesday

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that Germany has taken steps to suspend the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia in response to the developments in Ukraine.

The move was made in consultation with the the US, as part of a previous agreement the pipeline would not be activated if Russia "invaded" Ukraine.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden announced a "first tranche" of sanctions against Russia.

The sanctions target Russia's VEB and Promsvyazbank banks. Biden added that sanctions targeting Russia's sovereign debt are aimed at cutting off Russia's government from Western financing.

The European Union foreign ministers also agreed on a package of sanctions targeting individuals and entities that "undermine Ukrainian integrity," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The measures will target the 351 lawmakers who voted in favor of the recognition, along with 27 individuals and entities who threaten Ukrainian territory and sovereignty, Borrell said.

Also on Tuesday, Russian parliamentarians gave President Putin permission to use military force outside the country, after Putin had sent a letter formally asking for approval for the use of military force.

The move formalizes a Russian military deployment to separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, a day after Putin recognized the independence of the two self-proclaimed "people's republics."

Source: DW