In the most astonishing and rambling TV address this evening, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia will recognise the two pro-Russian breakaway states in eastern Ukraine as independent. Putin’s move to approve the two republics is said to follow a request by the leaders of the regions, which first broke away from Kiev’s control in 2014 and where there has been fighting between the Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian separatists. It amounts to the latest stage in the dismemberment of Ukraine. Putin’s TV address came after a long and tortuous day in which the Russian president played cat to Western mice. After a meeting with his security chiefs earlier in the day, the president went on to warn the leaders of France and Germany that he intends to sign a decree later today which would formally recognise Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region of Ukraine.