Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized the two regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as independent "people's republics".

The Kremlin chief signed a corresponding decree on Monday after a request from the separatists, as shown by state television.

This should continue to fuel the Ukraine conflict.

Previously, Putin had heard the National Security Council.

The majority of its members spoke out in favor of recognition.

In his speech, Putin questioned the statehood of Ukraine as a whole.

He described Ukraine as a state created by Russia under the communist revolutionary leader Lenin.

Lenin's monuments were destroyed there as a sign of "decommunization," Putin said, with a view to getting rid of what was left of communism.

"We are ready to show Ukraine what real decommunization is."

Ukraine has never had “real statehood”, but rather copied models, Putin said.

Radicals and nationalists are in charge there today - among the curators of the West, who would have led the country into a dead end.

Corruption and power struggles by oligarchs would prevent people in the former Soviet republic from doing better.

Putting punitive measures against Russia on the table

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".

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.