3:30 am: UN ‘regrets’ order to deploy Russian troops to eastern Ukraine
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo deeply “regretted” Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of the breakaway Ukrainian republics, as “the order to deploy Russian troops in eastern ‘Ukraine”. “The next few hours and days will be critical. The risk of a major conflict is real and must be avoided at all costs”, she demanded at the start of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine, organized at the request in particular of the Westerners.