Russia-Ukraine live updates and latest news

President Biden signed an executive order Monday blocking trade and investment by Americans in two separatist enclaves of Ukraine after Moscow recognized the breakaway regions’ independence and announced that it was sending troops to the area for “peacekeeping” purposes.

Administration officials said additional measures — including more sanctions — would be announced Tuesday, though these would be separate from the strict measures promised if Moscow further invades Ukraine.

Britain is also preparing new sanctions. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will convene an emergency committee meeting Tuesday morning to agree on measures, which Downing Street officials described as “significant.” London also said it would “explore sending further defensive support to Ukraine, at the request of the Ukrainian Government.”

A White House statement said President Vladimir Putin’s Monday maneuver “contradicts Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements, refutes Russia’s claimed commitment to diplomacy, and undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine has been a flash point in the crisis. Putin’s decision to recognize the two enclaves — where Moscow has backed rebel forces since 2014 — is a considerable escalation that Putin could use to justify an attack in those locations.

Biden’s order prohibits “new investment” by Americans, wherever they are located, into the separatist regions that call themselves the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.

It also bars the “importation into the United States, directly or indirectly, of any goods, services, or technology from the covered regions.”

Foreign policy experts say the curbs probably won’t be sufficient on their own to deter Putin from further military action, but they were a way to buy time for the United States and its allies to take the next step.

“It’s weak symbolism. It’s not strong enough,” said Daniel Fried, a sanctions expert at the Atlantic Council and a former U.S. ambassador to Poland. “I think they’re going to go beyond it. I think they have to.”

The White House said Monday that the executive order is “distinct from the swift and severe economic measures we are prepared to issue with Allies and partners in response to a further Russian invasion of Ukraine,” adding that the administration is “continuing to closely consult with Ukraine and with Allies and partners on next steps and urge Russia to immediately deescalate.”

Fried said he doesn’t expect any measures announced Tuesday to go as far as cutting off a key gas pipeline between Russia and Germany — which would risk “burning up a lot of political capital” with Berlin.

Germany has promised an “absolutely united” front with the U.S. and other NATO allies, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz has stopped short of publicly promising to halt the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project. Fried said more plausible measures were those that target Russia’s financial sector, such as “going after one of the larger of the big [Russian] banks.”