KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of wrecking peace efforts and ruled out making any territorial concessions in an address to the nation in the early hours of Tuesday.

Zelenskiy spoke after Russia‘s decision to formally recognise two Moscow-backed regions of eastern Ukraine as independent and send troops to the region, accelerating a crisis that the West fears could unleash a major war. Read full story

After chairing a security council meeting, Zelenskiy accused Russia of violating Ukraine‘s sovereign territory and said it could mean Moscow pulling the plug on the Minsk peace talks aimed at ending the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine wanted to solve the crisis through diplomacy but that his country was ready to dig in for the long haul.

“We are committed to the peaceful and diplomatic path, we will follow it and only it,” Zelenskiy said. “But we are on our own land, we are not afraid of anything and anybody, we owe nothing to no one, and we will give nothing to no one.”

He called for an emergency summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France while urging Ukraine‘s allies to take action against Russia.

A Reuters witness saw unusually large columns of military hardware moving through the breakaway city of Donetsk after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russia‘s defence ministry to send forces into the two regions to “keep the peace“.

Russia‘s actions drew U.S. and European condemnation and vows of new sanctions although it was not immediately clear whether the Russian military action would be regarded by the West as the start of a fullscale invasion. The area was already controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Moscow in practice.

Zelenskiy’s administration has voiced frustration at the West’s unwillingness to impose preemptive sanctions after Russia massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine‘s borders in recent weeks.

“We expect clear and effective steps of support from our partners,” Zelenskiy said. “It is very important to see who is our real friend and partner, and who will continue to scare the Russian Federation with words.”

SYDNEY – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said an Australian surveillance plane was doing its job when it was “put under threat” with a laser from a Chinese navy ship, rejecting Beijing’s assertion the plane came too close.

The P-8A Poseidon – a maritime patrol aircraft – detected a laser emanating from a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel last Thursday, and Australia released photographs of two Chinese vessels sailing close to its north coast.

“Our surveillance planes have every right to be in our exclusive economic zone and keeping a close eye on what people are up to,” Morrison told reporters on Tuesday.

“The fact they were put under threat is extremely disappointing,” he added.

The Chinese guided missile destroyer and an amphibious transport dock were sailing east through the Arafura Sea between New Guinea and Australia, and later passed through the narrow Torres Strait, Australia‘s defence department says.

Beijing says the Chinese ships had a legal right to be in international waters, which Australia has not disputed.

China‘s defence ministry on Monday said the surveillance plane had dropped a sonobuoy, which can help detect submarines, near the Chinese ships, and had flown as close as 4 km (2.5 miles) from the convoy, which it said was “provocative and dangerous”. Read full story

Australia‘s defence department said the aircraft was 7.7 km from the Chinese naval vessel at the time of the lasing incident, and the closest it flew was 3.9 km, which it said was standard for a visual inspection of a vessel.

Morrison said the surveillance plane‘s crew “were doing their job”, and repeated his demand for an explanation from Beijing.

On Tuesday Morrison announced separately Australia would spend A$804 million ($578 million) to buy drones and helicopters and set up mobile stations in Antarctica, because Australia needed to “keep watch” on the region. Read full story

He said that China did not share Australia‘s objectives in Antarctica, 42% of which is claimed by Australia, and that Beijing wanted to exploit its resources.

“We need to keep eyes in Antarctica because there are others who have different objectives to us, and we need to make sure not just for Australia‘s interest, but for the world’s interest, that we protect this incredible environment that we have responsibility for,” he said. – Reuters

Women now make up nearly 40% of the boards of Britain’s biggest 100 companies, compared with just 12.5% a decade ago, with recommendations in place to enable more female representation in top management, a government-backed report said on Tuesday.

Researchers reviewed women‘s representation in about 24,000 positions in firms on Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE, mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC and FTSE 350 .FTLC indices.

This puts Britain in second place globally, up from fifth in 2020 and just behind France which has a nearly 44% representation, according to the report.

Homebuilder Taylor Wimpey TW.L this month named Jennie Daly as CEO and Britain’s largest pet supplies retailer, Pets At Home PETSP.L, appointed Sky UK executive Lyssa McGowan as its CEO. Read full story

The review also set out four new recommendations, including increasing the minimum board and leadership representation of women in FTSE 350 companies to 40% by the end of 2025.

In July, Britain’s financial regulator also said at least 40% of board members in blue-chip companies should be women. Read full story

The latest report also found that female board representation in 2021 in the FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 grew by roughly 37% and 38% respectively.

British business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng lauded the progress, but said there was still more work to be done, with many companies yet to hit a 33% target set by previous reviews.

“Only one in three leadership roles and around 25% of all Executive Committee roles are held by women and there are very few women in the CEO role,” Kwarteng in a statement.

The report also said that number of women in chair roles across the FTSE 350 rose to 48 in 2021 from 39 a year earlier.

Water utilities Severn Trent SVT.L and Pennon PNN.L, and Holiday Inn owner IHG IHG.L are three of the companies with women in chair roles. – Reuters

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognising them as independent on Monday, accelerating a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.

A Reuters witness saw unusually large columns of military hardware moving through the breakaway city of Donetsk after Putin told Russia’s defence ministry to send forces into the two regions to “keep the peace” in a decree issued shortly after announcing recognition for Russian-backed separatists there.

The moves drew U.S. and European condemnation and vows of new sanctions although it was not immediately clear whether the Russian military action would be regarded by the West as the start of a fullscale invasion. The area was already controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Moscow in practice.

There was no word on the size of the force Putin was dispatching, but the decree said Russia now had the right to build military bases in the breakaway regions and that the troops’ mission would a peacekeeping operation.

In a lengthy televised address packed with grievances against the West, Putin, looking visibly angry, described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia’s history and said eastern Ukraine was ancient Russian lands and that he was confident the Russian people would support his decision.

Russian state television showed Putin, joined by Russia-backed separatist leaders, signing a decree recognising the independence of the two Ukrainian breakaway regions — the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic – along with agreements on cooperation and friendship.

Defying Western warnings against such a move, Putin had announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France earlier, both of whom voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said.

Moscow’s action may well torpedo a last-minute bid for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine. The rouble extended its losses as Putin spoke, at one point sliding beyond 80 per dollar.

Biden responded by signing an executive order for a halt to all U.S. economic activity in the breakaway regions and a ban on import of all goods from those areas as well as investment there.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the measures being rolled out in response to Putin’s decree were separate from sanctions the United States and its allies have been readying if Russia invades Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the executive order “is designed to prevent Russia from profiting off of this blatant violation of international law.”

The U.N. Security Council will meet publicly on Ukraine at 9 p.m. EST Monday (0200 GMT on Tuesday), a Russian diplomat said, following a request by the United States, Britain and France.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said European Union countries have agreed to impose a limited set of sanctions “targeting those who are responsible” for Russia’s recognition of the rebel regions, and British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said the government would announce new sanctions on Tuesday.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of “trying to stage a pretext” for a further invasion. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

In his address, Putin delved into history as far back as the Ottoman empire and as recent as the tensions over NATO’s eastward expansion. His demands that Ukraine drop its long-term goal of joining the Atlantic military alliance have been repeatedly rebuffed by Kyiv and NATO states.

With his decision to recognise the breakaway regions, Putin brushed off Western warnings.

“I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago – to immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic,” Putin said.

He said earlier that “if Ukraine was to join NATO it would serve as a direct threat to the security of Russia.”

SANCTIONS THREAT

Putin has for years worked to restore Russia’s influence over nations that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Ukraine holding an important place in his ambitions.

Russia denies any plan to attack its neighbour, but it has threatened unspecified “military-technical” action unless it receives sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO.

But recognition of the separatist-held areas paved the way for Putin to send military forces there, arguing that he was intervening as an ally to protect the separtists against Ukrainian forces.

Putin’s move will narrow the diplomatic options to avoid war, since it is an explicit rejection of a seven-year-old ceasefire mediated by France and Germany, touted as the framework for future negotiations on the wider crisis.

Separately, Moscow said Ukrainian military saboteurs had tried to enter Russian territory in armed vehicles leading to five deaths, an accusation dismissed as “fake news” by Kyiv.

Both developments fit a pattern repeatedly predicted by Western governments, who accuse Russia of preparing to fabricate a pretext to invade by blaming Kyiv for attacks and relying on pleas for help from separatist proxies.

Moscow has said repeatedly it has no such plans.

Biden reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty in a call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Hours earlier, Macron gave hope of a diplomatic solution, saying Putin and Biden had agreed in principle to meet.

But the Kremlin said there were no specific plans for a summit. The White House said Biden had accepted the meeting “in principle” but only “if an invasion hasn’t happened”.

Washington says Russia has massed a force numbering 169,000-190,000 troops in the region, including the separatists in the breakaway regions, and could invade within days.

European financial markets tumbled at the signs of increased confrontation, after having briefly edged higher on the glimmer of hope that a summit might offer a path out of Europe’s biggest military crisis in decades. The price of oil – Russia’s main export – rose, while Russian shares and the rouble plunged. — Reuters