Ukraine’s top security officer, Oleksiy Danilov, said on Wednesday that the country will declare a state of emergency through its whole territory, with the exception of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where it has been in effect since 2014. He stated that the state of emergency will last 30 days and might be extended for another 30.

Since 2014, pro-Russian rebels have seized sections of Donetsk and Luhansk. This week, Russia recognised them as sovereign states even as it was authorised to use its forces overseas.

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Danilov also stated that Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Danilov had not addressed the development of nuclear weapons, which Vladimir Putin has stated poses a strategic danger to Russia.

Russia established diplomatic links with Ukraine rebel territories that it recognised as autonomous entities on Tuesday, according to the news agency AFP.

This comes as Russia’s upper house authorised President Vladimir Putin to deploy military action outside the nation, a step that might foreshadow a larger attack on Ukraine after the US said an invasion had already started.

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Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army reported one soldier was killed and six were injured in the country’s war-torn east, according to AFP.

Putin stated that the problem may be resolved if Kyiv accepts Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow acquired from Ukraine in 2014, abandons its NATO aspiration and partially demilitarises. The West has condemned Crimea’s annexation as a breach of international law and has previously firmly opposed indefinitely excluding Ukraine from NATO membership.

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Japan imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, as tensions on the Ukraine border grew. Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister, said Moscow‘s actions in Ukraine were an intolerable breach of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law.

Japan has joined nations like Canada, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom in announcing sanctions in response to Russia’s recent move.

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US President Joe Biden announced the implementation of “the first batch of sanctions to inflict costs on Russia in response to their conduct” in Ukraine. The Democrat portrayed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s activities as the start of an invasion in a White House address. He pledged that if Putin goes any farther, further sanctions would be imposed.

Germany, on the other hand, has stopped the licencing process for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline after Russia recognised separatist-held districts in eastern Ukraine, raising fears of a full-scale invasion, according to the Associated Press.