Vladimir Putin plans to sign a decree recognising Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as independent entities, the Kremlin said — a move that German chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned as a “one-sided breach” of the Minsk peace deal.
The Russian president told the leaders of France and Germany that he would recognise the breakaway regions, which were the focus of a conflict between pro-Russian and Ukrainian forces in 2014.
