WASHINGTON, Feb 22 – Ukraine braced for a potential conflict with Russia Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, NBC News reported.

The deployment came after Putin issued an order Monday that recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the country. Ukraine and the West considered Russia’s moves a major escalation following months of military buildup and warnings that Moscow would create a pretext to invade its neighbor.

The U.S. on Tuesday began describing Russia’s military movements as an “invasion,” two Biden administration officials said. Moscow's moves prompted Washington and its European allies to ready sanctions against Russia, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Kremlin's actions led him to cancel a scheduled meeting later this week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

As the chances of a diplomatic solution to the crisis appeared to diminish, President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House that Putin has "set up a rationale" to take more territory from Ukraine by force.

"Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?" Biden said. "This is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community."

Biden said the U.S. was imposing "full blocking sanctions" on two large Russian financial institutions, VEB and a military bank, as well as sanctions on Russian elites and their family members and on Moscow’s sovereign debt.

"That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing," he said. "It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either."

The Treasury Department said the move "constrains Russia’s ability to finance defense-related contracts and raise new funds to finance its campaign against Ukraine." Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. response was “taken in coordination with our partners and allies," and will "begin the process of dismantling the Kremlin’s financial network and its ability to fund destabilizing activity in Ukraine and around the world.”

On the military front, Biden said Tuesday he authorized the additional deployment of U.S. forces and equipment already stationed in Europe to strengthen Baltic allies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

A senior U.S. defense official said the moves included ground forces and air support, with an infantry battalion of about 800 troops relocating from Italy to the Baltic region.

Biden emphasized that the deployments were only "defensive" and that the U.S. has "no intention of fighting Russia."

"We still believe that Russia is poised to go much further in launching a massive military attack against Ukraine," Biden warned.

Blinken, speaking alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a news conference later in the day, said he had sent his Russian counterpart a letter canceling their planned Thursday meeting in light of the Kremlin's actions.

When he initially agreed to the meeting, Blinken said it was on the condition that Russia not invade Ukraine further. "Now that we see the invasion is beginning, and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time," Blinken said Tuesday.

He added that the U.S. and its allies "remain open to diplomacy, but Moscow needs to demonstrate it is serious. The last 24 hours demonstrated the opposite."

Kuleba praised the new sanctions on Russia, and said a strategy of imposing sanctions in "waves" could work if they're done in a "very sustained way."

"The world must respond with all of its economic might," Kuleba said. "Hit Russia’s economy now and hit it hard."

Earlier Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that due to a “serious break of international law” by Russia, it was halting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline meant to deliver Russian natural gas to Europe, something Biden had warned would happen after a meeting with Scholz earlier this month if Russia were to invade. (nbc/ez)