Putin orders troops to Ukraine rebel regions

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into two Moscow-backed rebel regions of Ukraine Monday, prompting a furious response from the West with the United States denouncing the move at the UN Security Council as a “pretext for war”.

After weeks of massing troops around Ukraine, Putin recognised the independence of the former Soviet state's rebel-held Donetsk and Lugansk regions--paving the way for the deployment of a potential invasion force.

In an often angry 65-minute televised national address from his office, Putin railed against Ukraine as a failed state and “puppet” of the West.

Putin said it was necessary to “take a long overdue decision, to immediately recognise the independence” of the two regions.

In two official decrees, the Russian president instructed his defence ministry to assume “the function of peacekeeping” in the separatist-held regions.

Moscow's gambit triggered international condemnation and a promise of targeted sanctions from the United States and the European Union--with a broader package of economic punishment to come in the event of further incursion into Ukraine's territory.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting, where US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield described as “nonsense” Putin's reference to peacekeepers.

“We know what they really are,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding Putin's speech amounted to a "series of outrageous, false claims" that were aimed at “creating a pretext for war”.

Russia's ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told the meeting that Moscow was still open to a diplomatic solution.

“However, allowing a new bloodbath in the Donbas is something we do not intend to do,” he added, referring to the region encompassing Donetsk and Lugansk.

Putn’s move triggered panic on financial markets, with equities tumbling in Asian trade while the price of oil spiked.