US ambassador to UN calls Putin's peacekeeping forces 'nonsense'

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Monday said Russian President Vladimir Putin sending peacekeepers to Ukraine’s separatist regions was “nonsense” as officials warn Kyiv continues to be on the brink of a possible invasion.

During an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting held at the request of Ukraine, the U.S. and six other countries, Thomas-Greenfield referenced Putin’s announcement that he would recognize the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic as independent.

“He has since announced that he will place Russian troops in these regions. He calls them peacekeepers,” Thomas-Greenfield said of the Russian president. “This is nonsense. We know what they really are.”

“In doing so, he has put before the world a choice. We must meet the moment, and we must not look away,” she added. “History tells us that looking the other way, in the face of such hostility, will be a far more costly path.”

The meeting was requested by Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, who asserted that Putin’s actions were in violation of the U.N. charter and a 2014 U.N. General Assembly resolution.