Putin Calls on Ukraine to Demilitarize

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a press conference Tuesday, has called on Ukraine to demilitarize.

U.S. inflation is already at the highest level in four decades. The worsening Ukraine-Russia crisis could push it even higher.

That’s because the conflict is threatening to send oil prices above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, according to RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas. Oil prices already surged to a fresh eight-year high on Tuesday after Moscow ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, hitting $97.63.

A war in Europe – which many foreign policy experts say is a real possibility – could cause oil prices to climb as much as 20% to $120 a barrel, Brusuelas estimated. Should that happen, consumer prices in the U.S. would surge above 10% on an annual basis, the economist said, the highest since October 1981. 

“The potential for a broader energy shock to the global and U.S. economies should Russia invade Ukraine has added to a combustible mix of factors that is causing inflation to accelerate in the United States and abroad,” Brusuelas said. “That risk carries with it the potential to slow down growth.”

Click here
to read more on Fox Business.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Fox News’ Greg Palkot on Tuesday that further Russian troops have entered Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region last night.

He described the actions as further Russian incursions, noting how Russia has gone from covert to overt with its military actions.

Lawmakers in Russia have granted President Vladimir Putin approval Tuesday to use military force outside of its borders, according to the Associated Press.

Members of the upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously in their decision — effectively formalizing a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions of Ukraine, where an eight-year conflict has killed nearly 14,000 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson reports the latest from Lviv, Ukraine.

President Biden is preparing to speak about the latest developments in Ukraine at 1 p.m. ET.

The European Council announced Tuesday that it is finalizing a package of sanctions against Russia.

The package, it says, contains proposals to “target banks that are financing Russian military and other operations” in eastern Ukraine, “target the ability of the Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services” and “target trade from the two breakaway regions to and from the EU, to ensure that those responsible clearly feel the economic consequences of their illegal and aggressive actions.”

Ukraine’s defense ministry said Tuesday that two of its soldiers have died after receiving “shrapnel wounds” as a result of shelling from “Russian occupational forces” in the country’s east.

“Twelve servicemen were wounded with varying degrees of severity and are in medical facilities and six servicemen received combat injuries,” a statement read.

White House officials have confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that the Biden administration is now calling Russia’s military maneuvers in Ukraine an “invasion,” following comments Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer made during an early morning television interview.

Click here
to read more on Fox News.

Fox News’ Mark Meredith contributed to this report.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office said Tuesday that “oligarchs at the heart of Putin’s inner circle and banks which have bankrolled the Russian occupation of Crimea have been targeted by the first wave of U.K. sanctions in response to Russia’s further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

“It sends a clear message that the U.K. will use our economic heft to inflict pain on Russia and degrade their strategic interests,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. “And we are prepared to go much further if Russia does not pull back from the brink. We will curtail the ability of the Russian state and Russian companies to raise funds in our markets, prohibit a range of high tech exports, and further isolate Russian banks from the global economy.”

The Foreign Office also said it will “sanction those members of the Russian Duma and Federation Council who voted to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk in flagrant violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.”

Melaniya Podolyak, a Ukrainian resident, joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to talk US sanctions and a possible Russian invasion.

Police are seen standing behind an installation of crosses on which is written “Russian occupier” during a rally against Russia in front of Russian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks remained lower Tuesday morning but were off the worst levels of the session as investors weigh earnings from retailers against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ordering of troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

Dow futures were down over 100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw dips of 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. 

Western powers fear that Russia might use skirmishes in Ukraine’s eastern regions as a pretext for an attack on the democracy, which has defied Moscow’s attempts to pull it back into its orbit.

West Texas Intermediate crude spiked to over $93 per barrel, while Brent, the global benchmark hit $97, as Germany announced plans to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia because of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced. Natural Gas prices jumped over 3%. 

Click here to read more on Fox Business.

Ukrainian service members ride atop tanks during tactical drills at a training ground in an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released Tuesday.

Russian troops have arrived in eastern Ukraine hours after President Vladimir Putin announced that he would recognize the independence of two separatist regions, European officials said Tuesday morning.

“Russian troops have entered in Donbas,” the name for the area where the two separatist regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, are located, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Paris. “We consider Donbas part of Ukraine.”

When asked whether Putin’s decision to order Russian troops into the regions amounts to an invasion, Borrell said, “I wouldn’t say that’s a fully-fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.”

Poland’s Defense Ministry and British Health Secretary Sajid Javid also said Russian forces had entered Ukraine’s east. Javid went further, telling Sky News that “the invasion of Ukraine has begun.”

Click here to read more on Fox News.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in a tweet Tuesday morning, said President Biden has “made clear that if Russia invaded Ukraine
, we would act with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 does not move forward.”

Germany earlier this morning said it is taking steps to halt the process of certifying the key Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia over Moscow’s latest actions in eastern Ukraine.

“We have been in close consultations with Germany overnight and welcome their announcement,” Psaki added. “We will be following up with our own measures today.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his country’s “first barrage” of sanctions against Russia over their actions in eastern Ukraine.

“Today, the U.K. is sanctioning the following five Russian banks: Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank,” Johnson told lawmakers. “And we are sanctioning three very high net worth individuals: Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg.”

“Any assets they hold in the U.K. will be frozen, the individuals concerned will be banned from travelling here, and we will prohibit all U.K. individuals and entities from having any dealings with them,” Johnson added.

“This is the first tranche, the first barrage, of what we are prepared to do: we will hold further sanctions at readiness, to be deployed alongside the United States and the European Union if the situation escalates still further,” Johnson also said.

Smoke billows from a power and heating plant after it was shelled in Shchastya, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.

Tom Sanchez, an American living Kyiv, Ukraine, joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to describe the heightened tensions as the country awaits Putin’s next move.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, in a speech to his country’s military Tuesday, described Russian President Vladimir Putin
as a “criminal who wants the entire world to be his captive.”

“The Kremlin has made yet another step towards resurrection of the Soviet Union… [but] the only thing that stands in between is Ukraine and its army,” Reznikov said.

Reznikov also told his troops that a “tough road lies ahead” with losses, pain and fear, but “the victory shall be our reward. Because we are on our land and the truth is with us.”

When asked by Fox News about military preparations for a potential larger conflict, he said “It’s the job of our army, we are ready.”

Fox News’ Trey Yingst contributed to this report.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is continuing to downplay concerns of a potential Russian invasion of his country.

In a speech to Ukraine Monday night, Zelenskyy said “as for martial law… this question is clear to us. We believe that there will be no war, there will be no powerful [war] against Ukraine and there will be no wide escalation by the Russian Federation,” he said, according to Reuters. “If there is a [wide escalation], then martial law will be introduced.”

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy suggested that Ukraine could cut off diplomatic ties with Moscow.

“I’ve received a request from the foreign ministry. I will consider the issue of severing diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Immediately after our press conference, I will consider this issue,” Reuters quoted Zelenskyy as saying.

European Union foreign ministers have planned a meeting Tuesday to decide what sanctions to impose over Russia’s decision to recognize two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the aim is not to impose the whole range of sanctions that the EU has prepared should Russian invade Ukraine, but rather to address the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent.

Separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Putin had “completely torn up international law” and incoming British sanctions will target not just the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk but “Russian economic interests as hard as we can.”

Johnson is to set out further details of his country’s sanctions in the House of Commons later Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia on Tuesday said its recognition of independence for two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine includes territory currently held by Ukrainian forces as well.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has recognized the rebel regions’ independence “in borders that existed when they proclaimed” their independence in 2014. 

Ukrainian forces later reclaimed control of large part of both regions during a nearly eight-year conflict that has killed over 14,000 people.

Late Monday, convoys of armored vehicles were seen rolling across the separatist-controlled territories. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were Russian.

Russian officials haven’t yet acknowledged any troop deployments to the rebel east, but Vladislav Brig, a member of the separatist local council in Donetsk, told reporters that the Russian troops already had moved in, taking up positions in the region’s north and west.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Germany on Tuesday is taking steps to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia because of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced.

Scholz said that the government had decided to “reassess” the certification of the pipeline, which hasn’t begun operating yet, in light of the latest developments.

“That will certainly take time, if I may say so,” he said.

Germany meets about a quarter of its energy needs with natural gas, a share that will increase in the coming years as the country switches off its last three nuclear power plants and phases out the use of coal. About half of the natural gas used in Germany comes from Russia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, during a speech to the United Nations Security Council Monday, criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing two eastern Ukraine breakaway regions.

“He has since announced that he will place Russian troops in these regions. He calls them peacekeepers. This is nonsense,” she said. “We know what they really are. In doing so, he has put before the world a choice. We must meet the moment, and we must not look away.”

“We do not have to guess at President Putin’s motives,” she added. “Today, President Putin made a series of outrageous, false claims about Ukraine aimed at creating a pretext for war, and immediately thereafter, announced Russian troops are entering the Donbas.”

Russian forces have arrived in Ukraine’s breakaway regions, European leaders suggested Tuesday morning.

When asked whether Putin’s decision to order Russian troops into these regions amounts to an invasion, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, “I wouldn’t say that’s a fully fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.”

Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, warned of worrying signs that Russia has begun to move forces into Ukraine. He admitted that reports of military equipment moving into Ukraine’s Donbas region need to be verified, however.

A witness sent Reuters footage of columns of military vehicles, including tanks and APCs, moving on the outskirts of Donetsk early on Tuesday.

Donetsk is one of the two breakaway regions that Putin recognized on Monday. This move seems to comport with Putin’s orders.

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops into the two breakaway regions of Ukraine after recognizing their independence, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Russian government’s legal portal published his two decrees following a televised address late Monday.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council convened, with the United States and allies seeking to isolate Russia and condemning the deployment of Russian troops. Ukraine requested the late-night meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday that he will recognize the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic regions in eastern Ukraine, an apparent signal that he will not back down from a potential invasion.

Russia expert Rebekah Irina Koffler said, “Having recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and signed treaties today, Russia will almost certainly deploy armed forces, imminently, to occupy these breakaway territories. Putin has already authorized the deployment of ‘peacekeeping’ troops into Eastern Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, President Biden signed an executive order Monday imposing economic sanctions on these separatist Ukraine regions, but he stopped short of imposing penalties directly on Russia. A senior administration official tells Fox News that further measures will be taken Tuesday “to hold Russia accountable for this clear violation of international law.”

Biden’s agreement “in principle” to meet with Putin may be off after Russia’s independence declaration. The senior administration official told Fox News that they “can’t commit” to a meeting as Russia continues to prepare for military action.