Ukraine has imposed a nationwide state of emergency, started conscripting reservists and urged its citizens living in Russia to leave immediately, as one of Europe's worst security crises in decades continues to escalate. 

Western fears of a major war in Europe have grown significantly since Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized separatist enclaves in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that adjoin Russia. 

Latest developments:

• Ukraine has imposed a nationwide state of emergency

• Ukraine's foreign ministry has warned Ukrainians not to visit Russia, and urged its citizens already there to leave immediately

• Russia is evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, according to TASS news agency

• Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda have backed Ukraine's bid for EU status

• EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said sanctions "will hurt Russia, and it will hurt a lot"

• Ukraine's armed forces have begun conscripting reservists aged 18-60

• Putin has said Russia was always open to diplomacy but would continue to strengthen its military

• Ukraine has urged Western countries to "Hit more, hit hard, hit now" with sanctions

• Ukraine's parliament has preliminarily approved a law allowing citizens to carry firearms and act in self-defense

Ukraine's top security official Oleksiy Danilov said on Wednesday that the country would impose a state of emergency on all of its territory, apart from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions where it has been in place since 2014. He said that the state of emergency would last 30 days and could be extended for another 30 days.

READ MORE

Donbas explained: The center of conflict

How do I know if my child has long COVID?

Podcast: Do we need exams in schools? 

Danilov also said that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had not discussed the development of nuclear weapons, something Putin has said posed a strategic threat for Russia. On Tuesday, Zelenskiy ruled out a general mobilization of troops. But Ukraine has started conscripting reservists aged 18-60, the armed forces said in a statement. The maximum service period is one year.

Foreign ministry moves

In a travel advisory issued on Wednesday, the foreign ministry warned Ukrainians not to visit Russia and urged its citizens already there to leave the country. "The foreign ministry recommends that citizens of Ukraine refrain from any trips to the Russian Federation, and those who are in this country to leave its territory immediately," the statement said.

The country's foreign minister has also urged the West to impose more sanctions on Russia that target the economy and Putin's inner circle. Many Western nations introduced some level of sanctions on Tuesday, which Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba acknowledged, before imploring foreign leaders for firmer action.

"First decisive steps were taken yesterday, and we are grateful for them," Kuleba tweeted. "Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now."

Putin's response

Putin has reiterated that Russia must put its own national security interests first and would continue to strengthen its military in the face of what he called a "difficult international situation."

Speaking in a video statement released to coincide with the annual Defender of the Fatherland Day, he did not specifically mention the Ukraine crisis and insisted Russia is always open to diplomacy. 

"Our country is always open to a direct and honest dialogue and ready to search for diplomatic solutions to the most complicated issues," said Putin. "But I want to repeat that Russia's interests and the security of our people are unconditional. So, we will continue to strengthen and modernize our army and navy."

Ukraine parliament moves

Ukraine's parliament has approved sanctions against 351 Russians, including lawmakers who supported recognizing the independence of the two separatist-controlled territories. The sanctions bar those Russians from entering Ukraine and prevent their access to assets, capital, property and business licenses. 

"We should address the national security council to immediately impose sanctions against criminals, against every deputy of the State Duma of Russia, who voted for dismembering Ukraine," Iryna Gerashchenko, a member of the European Solidarity faction, said before the vote.

Ukraine's parliament also voted to approve in the first reading a draft law that gives permission to Ukrainians to carry firearms and act in self-defense.

"The adoption of this law is fully in the interests of the state and society," the authors of the draft law said in a note, adding that the law was needed due to "existing threats and dangers for the citizens of Ukraine."

Reaction elsewhere

A first, limited round of European Union sanctions on Russia will take effect on Wednesday, an EU diplomat said, blacklisting more politicians and banning trade between the EU and two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

EU foreign ministers chose not to sanction Putin himself but instead blacklist all members of the lower house of the Russian parliament who voted in favor of the recognition of the breakaway regions, freezing any assets they have in the EU and banning them from traveling to the bloc.

The UK is ready to guarantee up to $500 million in loans to support Ukraine and help mitigate the economic effects of Russian aggression, the British foreign office said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a row broke out between British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Russian news channel RT (formerly Russia Today). Truss said the UK media regulator Ofcom would be monitoring the Moscow-based broadcaster, which retaliated by saying Truss was undermining the regulator's independence.

"On the subject of Russia Today I am of the view that it broadcasts propaganda and fake news on a regular basis and is effectively an arm of the Russian state, and I'm sure Ofcom is looking at that," Truss said, drawing a response from RT's deputy editor in chief Anna Belkina.

"It is unfortunate that Minister Truss, and, recently, a select few other UK politicians, seem to be trying to directly or indirectly interfere in institutions they tout as supposedly independent and wholly free from political pressure," said Belkina. "These comments once more undermine the independence of the UK regulator."

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that Putin no longer accepted Ukraine's independence under international law. 

"President Putin in his speech (on Monday) declared in a sense the negation of Ukraine as a sovereign country," he told reporters after talks with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Berlin.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said his country could not abandon its ties with Russia or Ukraine, and criticized Western diplomatic efforts with Moscow as achieving little. Erdogan repeated his offer to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and said Nato member Turkey, which has good ties with both, would take steps that do not harm its bilateral ties.

"It is not possible for us to abandon either (country)," he was cited as saying by Turkish broadcasters. "Our aim is that we take such a step that, God willing, we sort this out without abandoning either one."