President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia's military to act as peacekeepers in two rebel-held regions of Ukraine, just hours after he recognized them as independent. In two official decrees, Putin instructed the defence ministry to assume "the function of peacekeeping" in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Moscow provided no details or date for any deployment, with the order saying only that it "comes into force from the day it was signed."

sovren.media