Leaders of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine ask Putin for help -Interfax

The leaders of pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine's Donbass region have requested military support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, requested help "in repelling the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces," Peskov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

On Monday, Putin announced that Russia would recognize the breakaway regions as independent of Ukraine, dramatically escalating the conflict with its neighbour and essentially scrapping a stalled peace plan for eastern Ukraine, which has been at war since 2014.