A prelude to Russian recognition?
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko at the council's regular news briefing in Kyiv today:
"Russia continues to concentrate troops near the border with Ukraine in the woods near the village of Veydelevka of Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, which is 10 kilometers away from the Ukrainian-Russian state border. The deployment of military groups of armed forces of the Russian Federation [there] comprises 50 units of armored equipment and around 2,000 troops."
"[...T]he United Nations Security Council’s three Western permanent members (France, UK, and the US), along with Germany and the European Union, need to appoint a single senior envoy to engage continuously and quietly with Ukraine, NATO and Putin. The current “Normandy format” (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France) clearly is not enough."
More from The Power Vertical on the jitters that Moscow's actions in Ukraine have prompted among Russia's neighbors.