Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he recognized Moscow-backed separatists' full territorial claims to eastern Ukraine, marking a possible lead-up to a major assault on Ukrainian defenders.
Putin backed the separatists' claims to the territory in the eastern province of Donbas where the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are located, according to The Moscow Times.
"We recognized them. And this means that we recognized all their fundamental documents, including the constitution," Putin said during a Tuesday evening press conference, according to a translation from The Moscow Times.
Putin added: "And the constitution spells out the borders within the Donetsk and Luhansk regions at the time when they were part of Ukraine."
A day earlier Putin signed a decree recognizing the regions Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
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