Russia recognises Donbas separatists
Vladimir Putin has signed presidential decrees recognising the self-proclaimed Donbas republics as independent entities. He instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to negotiation agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with them, while the Defence Ministry was ordered to carry out "peacekeeping functions" in the "republics".
The decrees are to be ratified by the Federal Assembly on 22 February.
Russia has recognised the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics within "the limits that have been actually by now", the deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council's committee for international affairs, Andrey Klimov, said, adding that "the rest is outside the framework of legal action", according to TASS.
Donbas
Two Ukrainian servicemen were killed by the Russian occupying forces near the village of Zaytseve in Donbas, the National Police have said. Another serviceman was wounded in Vodyane, it said.
Earlier, a civilian resident of Novoluhanske in Donetsk Region was killed by enemy fire.
As of 5 p.m. Kyiv time, separatists carried out 54 ceasefire violations, including 45 with the use of banned heavy weapons, the Joint Forces Operation HQ said in its evening update. According to it, four servicemen sustained fragmentation wounds.
Request for UN consultations
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has asked member states of the UN Security Council to immediately discuss de-escalation and Ukraine's security based on the provisions of the Budapest memorandum.
EU mission
The European Union has decided to deploy a military advisory and training mission to Ukraine, an important political signal for the start of military cooperation, Kuleba has said.
Cyber security warning
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned about possible attacks (defacing) on websites in the .ua.zone on 22 February. Potential targets include the websites of banks, government portals and military websites.
Police
The National Police will continue working in an enhanced mode at least until 26 February, chief Ihor Klymenko has said.
Fake news
The head of Ukraine's Donetsk regional administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has denied as fake the reports about the administration staff's mobilisation into army, which were circulated by separatist media. He said the document they referred to was a fake, having wrong names of the departments among other things.
Over the weekend of 19-20 February, the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security exposed 10 fakes on the situation in the separatist-controlled areas of Donbas, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko has said.