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The Ukraine Crisis - how did we get here?

The US has accused Moscow of creating a pretext for war, while Boris Johnson said the Russian move amounted to a "renewed invasion".

For months Russia's Vladimir Putin denied planning to attack Ukraine. But now, he's torn up a peace deal and ordered troops into two rebel-held eastern regions - Donetsk and Luhansk. Around 150,000 Russian troops have been deployed close to Ukraine's borders. Tensions are extremely high - and the world is watching. What happens next could jeopardise Europe's entire security structure.

Russia says the troops in Donetsk and Luhansk will perform "peacekeeping functions", which the US has said is "nonsense". In a fiery televised speech, President Putin argued Ukraine had no history of being a true nation. Ukraine's President Zelensky said Ukraine was not afraid and would not yield anything to anyone. Several nations, including the UK, have said they will introduce sanctions against "Russian irrational behaviour".

It's an incredibly fast-moving situation. For 5 Minutes On, the 大象传媒's World Affairs Correspondent, Paul Adams, looks at how we got to this stage.

Image Credit: Alexander Reka via Getty Images

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