LONDON, February 24. /TASS/. NATO’s unwillingness to discuss security guarantees led to a dead-end negotiations on de-escalation in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Thursday.

"The foreign secretary was explained in detail that NATO member states’ unwillingness, including on behalf of the United Kingdom, to discuss security guarantees in addition to Ukraine’s refusal to implement the Minsk Accords, led all diplomatic efforts to a dead-end," Kelin said after his visit to the Foreign Office.

"Under such circumstances, we had no other choice left but to respond to the call of help from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics against the background of the Ukrainian armed forces’ more aggressive actions, as they posed a real threat of an attack," Kelin said.

Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Kelin had been summoned to the UK Foreign Office because of the situation around Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.