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Ukraine-Russia crisis: Biden prepares sanctions after Putin’s shift

Macron negotiates face-to-face meeting between Biden and Putin

WASHINGTON – While Russia continued military drills in Belarus, French President Emmanuel Macron was brokering a face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden to avoid war. Biden’s administration warned the Russian military is in Belarus as part of a plan to attack Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Putin announced on Monday that he was recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine where pro-Russia guerrillas started fighting against the Ukrainian military about eight years ago and shelling continued on Monday.

Putin asked Russian lawmakers to approve military support for Ukraine’s rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance presents an existential threat to Russia. He doesn’t want countries in former Soviet Union territory to become members of NATO.

The United States and the European Union referred to Putin’s announcement as a violation of international law and prepared to prohibit financial transactions in the regions.

6 p.m. report

More on Ukraine-Russia crisis

People from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the territory controlled by a pro-Russia separatist governments in eastern Ukraine, walk from a train to be taken to temporary residences in the Volgograd region, at the railway station in Volzhsky, Volgograd region, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing a sharp spike in violence in and around territory held by Russia-backed rebels and increasingly dire warnings that Russia plans to invade, has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him and seek a resolution to the crisis. (AP Photo/Alexandr Kulikov) (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)


About the Authors
Ben Kennedy headshot

Ben Kennedy is an Emmy Award-winning Washington Bureau Chief for Local 10 News.

Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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