Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to recognize the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine.

This was announced by the Kremlin on Monday evening.

A corresponding decree will be “signed shortly”.

Shortly before, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had threatened sanctions if Putin took this step.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Brussels that if the "People's Republics" were recognized, he would "put punitive measures on the table" against Russia.

The EU foreign ministers would then have to decide on this.

Before a meeting of the National Security Council on Monday, the rebel leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk called on Putin in a video message broadcast on Russian television to recognize the "sovereignty and independence" of their self-proclaimed "people's republics".

Putin was scheduled to deliver a state of the nation address on Monday.

The Russian President also made it clear on Monday that he no longer sees any chance of implementing the Minsk agreement to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"We have come to the conclusion that there are no prospects" for the agreement, Putin said at the Security Council meeting in Moscow on Monday.

In the Minsk Agreements mediated by Germany and France in 2014 and 2015 and jointly agreed with Ukraine and Russia, the parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine committed themselves to several steps to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has asked the UN Security Council for an emergency meeting.

Steps should be discussed to guarantee his country's security and to reduce tensions with Russia, Kuleba said on Monday afternoon.

Allegedly five "saboteurs" killed

Violence has increased in eastern Ukraine in recent days.

State-run Russian media have repeatedly reported alleged encroachments by Ukrainian troops on Russian territory.

Western officials have been warning for days that Russia could create a pretext for an attack on Ukraine.

The Russian army announced on Monday that it had killed five "saboteurs" coming from Ukraine on Russian soil.

Russian news agencies, citing the army, reported that the "five people" breached the Russian border and were "eliminated".

In addition, during the morning incident in the Rostov region, two Ukrainian military vehicles tried to cross the border.

Ukraine rejected the Russian account.

For its part, Kiev reported on Monday afternoon that a civilian had been killed in a separatist attack in eastern Ukraine.

Two soldiers were killed in another attack.

The White House continues to warn against a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We have just seen further movements of Russian units to the border in the last 24 hours for which there is no good explanation other than positioning for an attack," President Joe Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. on Monday morning (local time) on American television.

It is not possible to predict an exact day, but an attack is possible in the “coming hours or days”.

Meeting of Lavrov and Blinken

Meanwhile, the West's efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict diplomatically continue.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart Antony Blinken plan to meet in Geneva on Thursday.

Lavrov said so at the Security Council meeting in Moscow on Monday.

Prerequisite is the approval of President Putin.

As the Foreign Ministry announced in Paris on Monday, Lavrov is to meet French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday.

According to the Elysée Palace in Paris, Presidents Biden and Putin “agreed in principle” to a summit proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The meeting “can only take place if Russia does not invade Ukraine,” the Elysée Palace said on Monday night after Macron had previously telephoned the two heads of state.

Shortly thereafter, Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that Biden had "agreed in principle to meet with President Putin... barring an invasion."

The Kremlin said on Monday that there were no concrete plans for a meeting between Putin and Biden.

Among other things, because of the possible summit meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called Putin again on Monday afternoon.

According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, the conversation was closely coordinated with the French President.

As the Kremlin announced after the phone call, Putin informed Scholz, as well as Macron, about his plans to recognize the "people's republics".

According to a spokesman, Scholz had previously warned against recognizing the two Ukrainian regions as independent states.

Such a step would be “in blatant contradiction” to the Minsk agreements and would be a “unilateral breach” of these agreements by Russia, Scholz said in the phone call, according to his spokesman.

Meanwhile, in a telephone call to Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is calling for Germany to exert influence on Ukraine.

The federal government should put pressure on the leadership in Kiev to take a more constructive stance on the crisis in eastern Ukraine, says Lavrov, according to the Moscow Foreign Ministry.

The Minsk agreements are the only possibility for a long-term settlement of Ukraine's internal crisis.