Earlier on Monday evening in the UK - at a news conference mainly about the end of Covid restrictions in England - Boris Johnson said Vladimir Putin's recognition of the self-declared republics was "plainly in breach of international law".

We're got a bit more reaction from Antony Blinken now.

In a statement, the US Secretary of State reiterates America's position that the Kremlin's decree represents "a complete rejection of Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements" and is a "clear attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Blinken adds that nations have a duty not to recognise a new "'state' created through the threat or use of force, as well as an obligation not to disrupt another state’s borders".

He says the latest move by Russia is another example of President Putin’s "flagrant disrespect for international law and norms".

We've got some reaction from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken now.

He says Putin's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as "independent" requires a "swift and firm response" and warns the US will take "appropriate steps" with partners in response.

Image source, Russian Defence Ministry via EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decrees on recognising the rebel-held territories envisage that the Russian armed forces will "perform peacekeeping functions" there.

The decrees do not specify what that could mean, but experts in Ukraine and Russia have argued that Putin can now officially send Russian troops to the rebel areas of eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected allegations by Ukraine and its Western allies that it already has its troops in the two self-proclaimed republics.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

This speech was Putin the angry, impatient and directly threatening.

It felt like Russia's president was getting 20-odd years of hurt off his chest and hitting back.

"You didn't want us to be friends," was how he put it to the West, "but you didn't have to make an enemy of us."

There was a lot we've heard before, repackaged for this moment when he knows he has maximum attention.

He's clearly ceding no ground on his key security demands: Nato expansion must be rolled back, and Ukrainian membership is a red line. He complained that Russia's concerns had been ignored as irrelevant for years and accused the West of trying to "contain" Russia as a resurgent global force.

Mr Putin's focus on Ukraine felt obsessive, like a man who thinks about little else.

At times it sounded like a bid to run for president there, it was so detailed. And, of course, there was his re-writing of Ukrainian history, to claim it has never really been a state.

In today's context, that had deeply ominous overtones.

Recognising the two breakaway regions of Ukraine could mean Russian troops go in openly, very soon - invited as "peacemakers".

Or there could be a pause, as Putin waits to see his opponent's next move.

In all this, Ukraine is the battleground. But it's also a game of brinkmanship between Russia and the West, rapidly building to a showdown.

Jessica Parker
BBC Brussels correspondent

Russia’s move has been widely condemned by the West tonight but what will leaders actually do?

The EU has said it will react with sanctions "against those involved in this illegal act".

Exactly what this means – and how comprehensive those sanctions will be – should soon become clearer.

Officials have previously suggested that the bloc’s sanctions package contains options that will correspond to the level of incursion by Russia.

Meanwhile there are already calls, from Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, for an emergency summit of EU leaders.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The UK government is expected to announce a package of sanctions on Russian individuals and entities on Tuesday in response to the decision by Moscow to recognise two breakaway republics in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

Government sources said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office would use new legislation to impose restrictions on people and organisations linked to the Russian state.

They said this was expected to be a first tranche of sanctions that would be “ratcheted up” if there were to be any movement of Russian troops into Ukrainian territory.

Earlier the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted that “we will not allow Russia’s violation of its international commitments to go unpunished”.

After a wave of condemnation, there are signs of a concrete response to Russia's announcement.

US President Joe Biden is to prohibit "new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in" the two breakaway regions recognised by President Putin.

The order will "also provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Throughout the tensions, the US has threatened Russia with an economic response - the Senate has been working on the “mother of all sanctions” should Russia invade Ukraine.

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent

Much of Vladimir Putin’s speech about Ukraine sounded like a fever dream. A nightmarish vision of a country economically crippled, utterly corrupt, bent on developing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and ungrateful for all the generous attention lavished on it by Russia since independence.

This wasn’t new. Mr Putin wrote a lengthy article last summer, making many of the same arguments.

But that didn’t make it any less shocking to hear. It underlined, for anyone with any lingering doubt, that Mr Putin is speaking from a very different place. This is not just a different slant on history. At times it felt like a parallel universe.

But are there lessons too for the west? Why, Mr Putin asked, did Nato make an enemy of Russia?

The western alliance certainly never set out to do any such thing. But the Russian leader’s broadside underlined, once more, that the Kremlin remains deeply resentful of the way history panned out. Nato’s gain was, in Mr Putin’s zero-sum world view, Russia’s loss.

Emmanuel Macron spoke of addressing “the mistakes of the past” after he met Mr Putin in Moscow two weeks ago. Suggesting, perhaps, that the west bears some responsibility for allowing this relationship to sour so badly.

If and when the crisis over Ukraine can be resolved, how can Nato and Russia pick up the pieces?

"I condemn Russia’s decision to extend recognition to the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk People’s Republic' and 'Luhansk People’s Republic'," says Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

"This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party."

His statement went on to again accuse Russia of seeking a pretext to invade Ukraine.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The decision by Russia to recognise Luhansk and Donetsk is a significant escalation of the crisis over Ukraine.

It is a substantial change in Russia’s position – until recently President Putin and his ministers spoke of the need to revive the failed Minsk accords, designed to establish a political settlement in the east based on a form of federalism within Ukraine’s existing borders.

Well, recognising the two breakaway republics as independent kills the Minsk process dead.

Western powers have already condemned the move as a breach of international law and an infringement of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The big question is what both sides do now.

Does the West consider this decision enough to trigger some economic sanctions against Russia? Does Russia – at the invitation of the pro-Russian authorities - deploy troops into Luhansk and Donetsk? How might the West respond to that? And how will the authorities in Kyiv respond, to the prospect of losing yet another large chunk of their territory?

There's been swift condemnation of the Russian move.

"The recognition of the two separatist territories in Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Minsk agreements," said Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission's president, referring to peace agreements covering eastern Ukraine.

"The EU and its partners will react with unity, firmness and with determination in solidarity with Ukraine."

If you're just joining us, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been given a televised address to explain his decision to recognise two areas of Ukraine that are controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

He spoke for over an hour, and covered a lot of ground, going as far back as the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. Here are the main lines:

• In the speech he said "Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood" and that modern Ukraine had been "created" by Russia.
• He attacked the idea of Ukraine joining the Nato defensive alliance, saying it would serve as "a direct threat to the security of Russia"
• Putin repeated his argument that Nato had ignored Russian security concerns
• Without providing evidence, he said Ukraine was a "puppet" of the US and accused the Ukrainian authorities of corruption

• Confirming the recognition of the breakaway states, he said it was a decision he should have made a long time ago

Putin has finished speaking now, and after a long address, in which he said Ukraine had no history of being a true nation, and accused - without evidence - the Ukrainian authorities of corruption, he confirmed he would recognise the independence of two breakaway regions

He's signed the documents and asked the Russian parliament to ratify the decision as soon as possible.

He finished his speech by saying “I’m sure I’ll have the support of the Russian people. Thank you.”

Putin says Russia’s security concerns have been ignored.

He says Nato admitting Ukraine is a settled question, saying the risk of a “sudden strike” against Russia would grow if Nato expands.

Here's a bit more from Boris Johnson.

He says that Putin's announcement is "yet another indication that things are moving in the wrong direction in Ukraine".

He says the UK will "continue to do everything we can to stand by the people of Ukraine", including preparing "robust" sanctions and continuing to "fortify" the eastern flank of Nato.

There has been some speculation that the UK and US could arm a Ukrainian insurgency that would resist if Russia were to invade.

Johnson says that few countries have given Ukraine the kind of "defensive weaponry" that the UK has done.

He adds that the UK will "think about what more we can do to support Ukraine in what is a very dark and difficult time".

UK PM Boris Johnson has just been asked about Vladimir Putin's move at a Covid news conference.

He says that recognising the self-declared republics in eastern Ukraine would be "plainly in breach of international law".

"It's a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine," he says. "It is a repudiation of the Minsk process and the Minsk agreements and I think it's a very ill omen and a very dark sign."

Jenny Hill
BBC Berlin correspondent

Image source, Reuter

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to President Putin on the phone this afternoon.

The conversation focused on the situation in and around Ukraine and on the Russian troops along the Russia-Ukraine and Belarus-Ukraine border.

Putin informed Scholz about the meeting of the Russian security council earlier today and Scholz condemned Russian plans to recognise the so-called people’s republics of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states.

Such a step would be in stark contradiction to the Minsk Agreements and would represent a unilateral violation of this treaty by Russia.

The chancellor called on the Russian president to de-escalate the situation and pull back forces from the border with Ukraine. He stressed Russia’s special responsibility to maintain the truce in Ukraine’s east and send signals of de-escalation.

At the moment the chancellor is in discussion with his closest partners, among them the French President Macron and Ukrainian President Zelensky.

This has been a long speech – 30 minutes and counting. Putin is only just getting to Nato.

One of his stated goals has been stopping Ukraine getting membership of the defensive alliance.

He said that the US and Nato have turned Ukraine into a “theatre of war”.

An ominous messagepublished at 19:18 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2022

19:18 GMT 21 February 2022

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

Putin opened his address to the nation by discussing his view on history - and why, from his perspective, Ukraine simply isn't a state. It was an ominous start.

He is still talking - and now it is almost like the Russian leader is making a bid to run for president of Ukraine. He is talking about water prices and utilities going up, unemployment, poverty, and corruption.

His message: Is this the European civilisation they tricked you with?