Explainer: What does Russian recognition of breakaway regions mean?

That could pave the way for Moscow to send military forces into the separatist regions openly, using the argument that it is intervening as an ally to protect them against Ukraine

A Russian marine runs during the Union Courage-2022 Russia-Belarus military drills at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus. Picture: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the French and German leaders on Monday that he planned to sign a decree recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.

Here's a look at the implications for the wider crisis, in which the United States says Russia may be poised to invade Ukraine with a force of up to 190,000 troops it has massed near its neighbour's borders.