By Jeyhun Aliyev
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AA) - Ukraine has requested an "urgent meeting" of the UN Security Council due to Russia’s "illegal actions" in eastern Ukraine, the nation's top diplomat said early Tuesday.
"We have already sent the request to the Council," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states and signed the relevant agreements with the separatist leaders in the Kremlin.
The US, the UK, UN, Turkiye, and several European nations strongly condemned the recognition of separatist regions of Ukraine.
Tensions have recently risen dramatically in eastern Ukraine, with reports of a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents, and evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Western countries have accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia's security through NATO's expansion toward its borders.