The deployment of what Russia called a peacekeeping operation in eastern Ukraine is "nonsense" and Moscow's recognition of breakaway regions as independent is part of its pretext for war, the United States told the U.N. Security Council on Monday.
The consequences of Russia's actions "will be dire - across Ukraine, across Europe, and across the globe," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the emergency meeting of the 15-member council.
Tensions between Moscow and Western capitals have escalted following weeks of United States accusations that Russia has deployed up to 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders for an invasion. Russia has denied it wants to invade Ukraine and accuses the West of hysteria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday officially recognised the two breakaway regions - the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic - as independent, defying Western warnings that such a step would be illegal and wreck peace negotiations.
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