Russia-Ukraine conflict: Kyiv cuts diplomatic ties in response to invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out invasion of Ukraine through the land, air, and sea. As Ukrainian military forces are at the defenses, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that Ukraine will cut diplomatic ties as another response to the invasion.

Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine will be cutting diplomatic ties with Russia in response to the invasion of Russian troops into Ukrainian territory to carry out military operations. This follows Putin’s orders to recognize the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states and to carry out a military operation into the democratic country. This would be the first rupture in ties between the two countries since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

“We broke off diplomatic relations with Russia,” Zelenskyy said in a video message Thursday.

“Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks. Russia vilely and suicidally attacked our state in the morning. Just like fascist Germany did during the second world war,” Zelenskyy continued.

The Ukrainian leader’s decision to break diplomatic ties follows hours after Putin declared an all-out offensive on Ukraine. Putin declared the attacks in a televised address, saying that he had approved a military operation.

The invasion led to widespread international condemnation, especially from democratic countries. The island nation of Taiwan has also condemned the invasion and has vowed to impose sanctions on Russia. Taiwanese Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said that the island nation will join all the democratic countries in imposing sanctions on Russia.

“We very harshly condemn such an act of invasion and will join democratic countries to jointly impose sanctions,” Su told reporters Friday. Su did not disclose any specific details.

Taiwan’s Economy Minister Wang Mei-Hua also told reporters that the island nation will “harshly scrutinize” exports to Russia and will coordinate with the island nation’s allies for further actions. Wang also did not disclose any specific details.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry issued a statement, saying that Taiwan “will coordinate closely with the United States and other like-minded countries to adopt appropriate measures in order to free Ukraine from the horrors of war.”