The de facto leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” have appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help “repelling aggression” from Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Wednesday, February 23.
The state news agency also released photos of the appeals provided by the Kremlin’s press service. The letters, dated February 22, 2022, claim that the “military aggression from the Ukrainian side is intensifying” and that “Kyiv continues to increase its military presence” along the line of contact in the Donbas. The letters also allege that Ukrainian forces have destroyed infrastructure in breakaway territories and caused civilian casualties.
The “DNR” and “LNR” leaders requested help within the framework of the treaties on “friendship and mutual assistance” with Russia, which the Russian parliament ratified on February 22. The Kremlin’s spokesman did not disclose Putin’s response to the appeals.
Update. Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the “DNR” and “LNR” formally requesting military assistance from Russia, reports Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The D/LNR’s request “is a further escalation of the security situation,” he wrote on Twitter.
President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow’s official recognition of the “DNR” and “LNR” following an an extraordinary meeting of the Russian Security Council on February 21. The next day, both the upper and lower houses of the Russian parliament unanimously ratified agreements on “friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance” signed with the de facto leaders of the breakaway “republics.”
Also on February 22, Russia’s Federation Council (the parliament’s upper house) granted a presidential request to deploy the military abroad, giving Putin the green light to openly send troops into eastern Ukraine. In turn, UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned such a deployment as “perversion of the concept of peacekeeping.”