Tanks, trucks, and troops have started to roll into the eastern part of Ukraine, just a few hours after Vladamir Putin was quick to call the region independent.
Putin has reportedly ordered the Russian forces to go in via his ‘peacekeeping mission’ as it locks him on a direct collision course with the West as well as Kiev.
During the early hours of the morning, the column of armored vehicles could be seen from Donetsk which is deemed to be one of the major cities of the two so-called republics.
While there was no clear insignia visible on the armored vehicles and moving military convoy, inside sources and experts widely believe that they belong to Russian forces and have been deployed by Putin.
Simultaneously, Ukraine claims that heavy shelling broke out near all 250 miles of its long frontline of the breakaway provinces. And that is reported to have left two soldiers dead and at least 12 people injured. This is being looked upon as a major escalation in the violence.
Now, all eyes are turning to the West and many are curious to see what their reaction will be.
Right before Putin’s order, several world leaders including Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it very clear that any form of Russian incursion, whether big or small, into Ukraine’s territory would now be seen as a fresh form of invasion of the nation.
The US President has boldly mentioned how they would be putting forward a huge flurry of sanctions, while the UK agreed and will soon announce its own line of sanctions against Russia.
At the same time, there was a UN security council meeting called on an urgent basis where it was discussed how Russia was violating human rights with its decision to invade parts of the country.
The White House spokesman has promised that more sanctions by the US will follow later on during the day as President Biden signed an executive order relating to this matter.