By Tucker Reals, Haley Ott, CBS News

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of two Russian-backed breakaway republics in the east of Ukraine. Following the announcement, Putin instructed the Russian Ministry of Defense to provide “peacekeeping functions” to the breakaway regions, but it was unclear if Russian forces had crossed into Ukraine, CBS News’ Mary Ilyushina reports.

The Biden administration warned last week that recognizing the self-declared “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, would violate international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty, and would “necessitate a swift and firm response” from America and its allies.

Also Monday, Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said at a special OSCE meeting on the crisis that the U.S. has received reports of “forced mobilization of men and boys, taken against their will to assembly points and then on to the front lines in the Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.” An OSCE spokesperson told CBS News that “we assume that the men and boys are being conscripted against their will for a possible military engagement.”

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