section_path: Prelude/Invasion plans/Putin's invasion announcement
section_name: Putin's invasion announcement
paragraph_text: Putin's invasion announcement
  
  On 21 February, Putin announced that Russia recognised the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic as independent states. The following day, Russia announced that it was sending troops into the territories as "peacekeepers", and the Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force abroad.
  
  Before 5 a.m. Kyiv time on 24 February, Putin, in another speech, announced a " special military operation ", which effectively declared war on Ukraine. Putin said the operation was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics. He baselessly claimed that Russians in the Donbas had "been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime" for 8 years. Putin said Russia was being threatened: he baselessly claimed that Ukrainian officials were neo-Nazis under Western control, that Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons, and a hostile NATO was building up its forces and infrastructure in Ukraine. He said Russia sought the "demilitarisation and denazification" of Ukraine, and denied the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. Putin said he had no plans to occupy Ukraine. The invasion began within minutes of Putin's speech.