Appeals from the leaders of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine to be independent need to be considered by Russia, as the issues are closely related to global security issues in the world and Europe in particular, President Vladimir Putin said in a televised meeting of Russian Security Council.

Putin asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Deputy Chief of Staff Dmitry Kozak to report on their assessments of the situation in Donbas.

On Monday, the leaders of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic asked Putin to recognize them as independent regions.