US Permanent Representative To UN: Recognition Of "LDPR" Is Russia's Attack On Ukraine

Moscow is creating a pretext for an invasion.

US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said that Russia has carried out an unprovoked attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Moscow is creating a pretext for an invasion.

She stressed that Ukraine is not trying to obtain nuclear weapons from the West.

"This is an attack on Ukraine's status as a UN member state. It violates basic principles of international law and challenges our UN charter. Russia's decisions create a pretext for further invasion of Ukraine," she said.

The diplomat stressed that there was no need to "guess about Putin's motives", noting that he "made a series of outrageously false statements about Ukraine aimed at creating a pretext for war, and immediately afterwards announced the deployment of Russian troops in Donbas".

We remind that on February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized the "LDPR".

This allowed Russia to sign a so-called "friendship treaty" with the leaders of these illegal formations. This treaty envisions joint protection of the "borders" of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR".

As a result of these actions, Russian military equipment has already moved to the demarcation line. Eyewitnesses spotted it in Donetsk Region.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Russia's recognition of the "LDPR" undermined peace efforts and ruined the negotiation processes. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine qualified the actions of the Russian Federation as a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state.