ISTANBUL

Ukraine called Wednesday for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council following reports that separatist leaders in its eastern breakaway regions are seeking Russia’s help to repel Ukrainian troops.

“Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situation,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

The move came shortly after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the leaders of Ukraine's breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking for military assistance.

Noting that the letter pointed to “civilian casualties in the Donbas region,” Peskov said the respective administrations asked the Russian president for help in repelling the “aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces.”

Putin announced Monday that Moscow was recognizing the two eastern Ukrainian breakaway regions as "independent" states, followed quickly by an order to send Russian forces there to "maintain peace."