The Russian authorities brush aside Western criticism - they claim not to care about sanctions, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says.

He says the country is facing growing international isolation - but for now that is the consequence the Kremlin is willing to accept.

However, geopolitical tensions are fuelling fear of conflict among Russian people.

"We should be worried that this could spill out of control," says Pavel, a Moscow resident, told the BBC. "It's very serious."

Alla, another Moscovite, says: "Of course, I'm nervous. We have sons, husbands. We don't want there to be war."

In the southern city of Rostov, not far from the Ukrainian border, some local residents voiced support for President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine.

"I think Putin did the right thing, and the USA is a bad influence on Ukraine," one woman told BBC Russian.

But she added: "I am really concerned that a huge war may break out. I was worried to tears and I had to take some tranquillisers."

Do UK's sanctions against Russia go far enough?published at 22:18 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February 2022

22:18 GMT 22 February 2022

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

At the start of this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Russia the UK was "preparing a package of sanctions and other measures to be enacted the moment the first Russian toe cap crosses further into Ukrainian territory".

Fast forward to today - and the view in London is very much that toe-caps have crossed that threshold.

The prime minister believes an invasion is under way, even if Downing Street says it's not a full-scale one yet and is still urging Russia to stand back from the brink.

So, has the UK followed through on its threats about sanctions?

Read Nick's full analysis here.

Image source, Reuters

The US's top diplomat says he is cancelling Thursday's proposed meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Now that we see the invasion is beginning, and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He adds "we will not allow Russia to claim the pretence of diplomacy the same time it accelerates its march down the path of conflict and war."

Speaking in the last few minutes at a press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Russian president's plan all along has been to invade Ukraine and reclaim it as part of Russia.

Putin's comments last night showed he views Ukraine "not as a sovereign nation with the right to territorial independence, but rather as a creation of Russia, and therefore a subordinate of Russia," the US's top diplomat claims.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

The threat of economic sanctions hasn’t stopped Russian President Vladimir Putin so far. And if financial markets are any indication, this latest round may not either.

Oil prices spiked and share markets tumbled early on Tuesday after Russia ordered troops into the two rebel-held regions in Ukraine's east, while recognizing them as independent states.

But they reversed direction later as investors concluded that the economic fallout from the Western response would remain limited. Russian markets, which have seen steep losses amid the tensions, even closed in positive territory.

Russia is a major global supplier of oil and gas, but doing more to isolate its energy supplies could also affect prices in Western countries, where rapidly rising energy prices are already causing political trouble.

US President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that leaders will go further in response to Russian actions, acknowledging that defending Nato territory will come at a cost. But how high a cost Western leaders will accept remains to be seen.

As we've been reporting, US President Biden has announced sanctions against Russia - calling Putin's incursions into Ukraine violations of international law.

Image source, Getty Images

Former US President Donald Trump has called Vladimir Putin’s orders to send troops into Ukraine "genius".

Appearing on a right-wing radio show, Trump was asked about President Biden’s response to Putin’s sending military forces into Ukraine.

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,’” Trump said. , external

“Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine - of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine.

"I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border”.

The Republican former president continued to praise Putin later on, while disparaging his successor.

“You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response.”

Image source, Reuters

We're just getting some words from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky who's been speaking in Kyiv.

He says he is calling up reservists for a special period - but ruled out general mobilisation.

And he says he is still pursuing diplomatic ways out of the crisis, but stresses that Ukraine would not cede any territory to Russia.

His priority, he says, is to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. He welcomed the sanctions that are being introduced by Western nations.

The White House says Joe Biden met Tuesday with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine to reaffirm the US "commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Biden updated Kuleba on the US response to Russia’s decision to "recognise the purported ‘independence’" of the the rebel-held Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, the White House says.

This included new sanctions announced today, and a pledge to continue security assistance and economic support to Ukraine, it says.

“President Biden reiterated the readiness of the United States, in close cooperation with our Allies and partners, to respond swiftly and decisively to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine".

In the House of Lords, Tory former solicitor general and QC Lord Garnier said the imposition of sanctions by Boris Johnson don't go far enough.

"We have sanctioned three individuals and five banks, that really isn't enough," he said.

Putin "has vast sums squirreled away in the West, held by nominees" and that "the government must know who these nominees are," he added.

Tory Lords leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park replied that the sanctions announced today were "only the first tranche" and that more would come "if Russian aggression continues".

Image source, AFP

Vladimir Putin today said that the Minsk deal was killed off long ago. The deal, he says, no longer exists.

But what is in the agreement?

The Minsk Agreement between Ukraine and Russia outlined a plan of how to end the conflict between Ukrainian and Russian-backed separatist forces in the Donbas. That's the region where these self-declared republics which Putin has now recognised as "independent" are located.

That agreement set out steps designed to end the conflict in Ukraine's east and resolve the status of the breakaway areas.

There are many parts of the accord, which was agreed in 2014 in the Belarusian capital Minsk after lengthy talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

Some of the most important were:

• Full Ukrainian government control will be restored over the state border, throughout the conflict zone
• Withdrawal of all foreign armed groups, weapons and mercenaries from Ukrainian territory
• Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides

Earlier today, France accused Vladimir Putin of failing to respect his country's commitments to key international accords, including the 2014 Minsk agreement seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The agreement was a ceasefire deal signed in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

"President Putin no longer honours Russia's signature," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

He was speaking after EU sanctions on Moscow were announced.

"President Putin doesn't honour his own commitments, because he stated publicly that the idea of a vote by the Duma resulting in recognition of the two republics... was not on the agenda," Le Drian said, referring to the separatist-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The US warned that there would be severe sanctions if Russia’s military entered Ukrainian territory. The exact details, however, were left intentionally vague.

The Americans said they did not want to tip their hand. Now Russia has forced their hand. And after White House officials seemed uncertain about how to label Russia’s move, US President Joe Biden was clear. This was the beginning of an invasion and it will be punished as such.

The sanctions will have a bite - although the US left out some of the most drastic moves, such as cutting Russia out of the Swift banking transaction system or limiting its access to vital microchip technologies.

Perhaps the biggest news came earlier in the day with the German decision to suspend certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a move that can at least partially be attributed to US diplomatic efforts.

Last month, Biden said that if Russia made a “minor incursion” into Ukraine, the US and its allies may struggle to come up with an appropriate response. For the moment, it appears the West is sticking together.

Biden once again ruled out any US military response, so the diplomatic cards have been the only ones the US can play. In the end, he wasn’t able to stop Russian tanks from rolling in - but the crisis still has room to escalate. And Biden said he still has more punishment the US and its allies can dole out.

Now, it's Putin’s move.

A raft of sanctions against Russia have been announced by Western nations.

The most recent are from US President Joe Biden, who said there would be sanctions against two financial institutions, VEB and Russia's military bank. Parts of the Russian economy are being cut off from international financial systems, he said.

Further sanctions against Russian elites and their families are expected.

Biden said the US had been carefully coordinated with allies - and indeed, the sanctions he listed followed announcements made in Europe earlier today.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said five banks were having their assets frozen, and three Russian billionaires - who will also be hit with UK travel bans - will face the same.

After he announced the measures in the House of Commons earlier, some MPs argued that they did not go far enough - but Johnson said the sanctions could be extended.

Germany suspended certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was to bring gas from Russia. The country supplies Europe with about 40% of its gas, sourced from vast supplies in Russia's east.

And the EU unanimously agreed its first wave of measures, which includes targeting all members of Russia's parliament who approved the Ukraine decision. Russian banks and access to the EU's financial markets were also blocked.

But the sanctions so far fall short of what had been threatened in the event of invasion. There had been speculation that Russia could have faced being cut off from the global banking system, denied access to the dollar, or even face import or export restrictions.

Zhanna Bezpiatchuk
BBC Ukrainian Service reporter

Image source, NataliIa Yatsiv

“Almost all Ukrainians were following [President] Putin’s emergency speech. I just saw a small Napoleon that plays big games," says 38-year-old Nataliia Yatsiv, a project manager from Kyiv.

“It’s really very scary. My husband and I didn’t sleep until late at night to hear our president’s response and get explanations about what it all means for us,” Nataliia says.

Nataliia says that Putin's decrees recognising two separatist republics in Ukraine and sending troops there only helped to persuade her once more that her country has no choice but to join Nato and take a European perspective.

“While watching him [Putin], I felt so relieved that we opted for Europe and Nato. I don’t want anything to do with this northern neighbour,” she says.

Paul Kirby
BBC News Online Europe editor

Image source, Getty Images

Russia's president said initially he had ordered in troops to "maintain peace" in eastern Ukraine but he's now started talking about providing the rebels with military assistance too.

Nobody ever really imagined Russian troops acting as a peacekeeping force, after Vladimir Putin tore up the only peace accord in town and gave a rambling diatribe about modern Ukraine being entirely created by Russia.

But alarmingly he has also appeared to back the two rebel statelets' claim to far more territory than they already hold. The so-called people's republics covet all of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, when currently they control just over a third.

"We recognised them, didn't we, and this means we recognised all of their founding documents," said Putin.

On top of that he has demanded Ukraine be demilitarised and that it never joins Nato. The prospects for a peaceful resolution are not good.

Image source, Getty Images

In his remarks at the White House, US President Joe Biden outlined a number of sanctions being taken against Russia to "impose costs" on it for its actions in Ukraine.

Here's a recap of what he said:

•The US believes that Russia is the clear aggressor in the tensions with Ukraine.

• Biden condemned Putin's "bizarre" recognition of two separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine, which the US president called a violation of international law.

•Two financial institutions, VEB and Russia's military bank, now face sanctions, and further sanctions against Russian elites and their families are also expected.

•The US is sending more defensive assistance to Ukraine and is deploying US forces to Baltic allies, which are Nato members.

While the president took no questions, a briefing by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is expected later today.

In what he called the "first tranche" of sanctions against Russia, Biden announced moves to block trade involving two large banks - VEB and the Russian Military Bank - and to cut off parts of the Russian economy from international financial systems.

Biden said these moves went "far beyond" previous measures and would cut the Russian government off from Western financing for its sovereign debt.

President Biden accused Vladimir Putin of attacking Ukraine's "right to exist" in his Monday speech on the escalating tensions in Ukraine.

In his remarks at the White House, Biden said that he believed Putin's speech showed that he has no interest in "pursuing real dialogue" on European security.

"He indirectly threatened territory formerly held by Russia, including nations that today are thriving democracies and members of Nato," Biden said. "He explicitly threatened more unless his extreme demands were met".

Image source, Getty Images

Biden says he has been in constant contact with European leaders, including Ukraine's President Zelensky.

The US, its allies and partners have been working in unison, he says.

"We're united in our support of Ukraine. We are united in our opposition to Russian aggression. We are united in our resolve to defend our Nato alliance," the president says.