Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he recognized the Moscow-backed separatists' full territorial claims in eastern Ukraine, marking a possible lead-up to a major offensive.
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.
An estimated 30,000 separatists have been locked in an eight-year conflict with the Ukrainian armed forces, despite receiving support from Russian operatives. A major Russian offensive could break the stalemate along the so-called line of contact and overwhelm dug-in Ukrainian forces.
"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."
As the separatists hold less than half of the territory they claim, Putin's remarks possibly speak to plans for an offensive to seize ground in the Donbas. Such an assault could involve some of the over 150,000 troops Russia has amassed near Ukraine.
Some analysts have said that Russia could use separatist territory as a launch point for a deeper invasion of Ukraine, beyond territories claimed by the Russia-backed rebels.
On Monday, Putin signed a decree recognizing the regions Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, before announcing that Russia would send "peacekeepers" into the Donbas. Russia has had a military presence in eastern Ukraine since 2014 — the year that Putin unilaterally annexed Crimea — but has consistently denied this despite evidence to the contrary.
By recognizing the independence of the breakaway territories, Putin tanked the Minsk accords — ceasefire agreements designed to end the war in eastern Ukraine. The conflict has claimed over 13,000 lives since it began eight years ago.
