In a meeting with the Russian security council, Vladimir Putin has asked for the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics" to be recognised as independent states.

Russia-backed rebels in those areas - located in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region - have been fighting the Ukrainian military since 2014 but Moscow has not officially recognised their self-declared republics.

Ukraine and the West fear that if this happens, it could lead Moscow to openly send military forces into the area.

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