On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech that the idea of Ukraine as a, quote, genuine country was false.

He also moved to formally recognize two separatist regions of Ukraine as independent.

I think it's need to have now-nosedly to recognize. Nezimidly to recognize

the independence and suerunit

of Donetsky-Norot of the Lugansky

National Republic.

Then, Russian tanks rolled in.

Western leaders say Russian troops

have moved into rebel-held areas

in eastern Ukraine,

after Vladimir Putin recognized

the separatist region's independence.

Ukraine, Russia, two countries with a face-off decades in the making.

And now, seemingly ready to explode.

I'm Gustavo Oriano.

You're listening to The Times.

Daily News from the LA Times.

It's Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022.

Nabi Bulos is the Middle East Bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.

Nabi, welcome to the Times.

Thank you for having me.

You've spent the last few weeks reporting from Ukraine. What's a situation like right now and how are people feeling? Well, it's been just such a major difference. If you compare the feeling, really, from the last few weeks and what happened yesterday, it's just, you know, totally different. I mean, frankly, you know, for the first few weeks, I'll admit to you, the situation here was quite calm. People were, if anything, nonchalant, you know, I mean, I despise use the word resilient, right, because it's overused, but the fact is that people were quite calm, they were enjoying themselves. I mean, Kiev is a beautiful city, as you probably know. So pretty people were just, you know, living normally, in fact. I mean,

...