Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace

Russia has published the mutual defense treaty it has concluded with the separatist regions.

The “friendship, cooperation and mutual aid” treaty states that the two will come to each other’s defense in the case of attack and authorizes Russia to build military infrastructure on the separatist territory -- inside an internationally recognized part of Ukraine.

The treaty also says that Russia and the separatist forces will guards its borders jointly, meaning Russian forces will openly deploy along the frontline.

It lays the ground for a substantial open Russian military deployment into the separatist territory, where a lot of covert Russian troops were already located.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

The U.S. administration has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to head to Lviv, in the western part of the country, for his safety, a U.S. official told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz

President Joe Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday afternoon, in which all three leaders "strongly condemned" Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize separatist regions in Ukraine as independent, the White House announced in a statement. 

"The leaders strongly condemned President Putin’s decision to recognize the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine as 'independent,'" the statement read. "They discussed how they will continue to coordinate their response on next steps."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned Putin’s decision, stating, "This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Christine Theodorou

In the decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizing independence for two Russian-controlled separatist regions in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, Putin ordered Russia's Defense Ministry to assist the separatist forces in "maintaining peace."

This degree gives Russia's military a basis to openly enter the regions.

The decree specifies that Russia's forces should maintain the "peace" before the formal signing of a treaty of "friendship, cooperation and mutual aid" between Russian and the "republics."

The decree also orders Russia's foreign ministry to begin establishing diplomatic relations with the two separatist "republics."

"In connection with the appeal of the head of the Donetsk's People's Republic, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is to ensure before the conclusion of the agreement, named in point three of the present Decree, the fulfilment by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of the People's Republic of Donetsk the function of maintaining the peace," the decree reads.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell