The situation in and around Ukraine is changing by the hour, but Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin says one thing remains unchanged: Vladimir Putin’s lust for power.

“Putin won’t overplay his hand. I think he’ll wait,” said Mullin, R-Oklahoma. “But absolutely Georgia; he wants to take over Georgia again. He would love to take over Azerbaijan, if possible. Putin’s whole goal is to restore the old Soviet Union.”

World leaders are denouncing Russia’s announcement that it’s recognizing two areas of eastern Ukraine as independent republics.

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Russia says it’s sending what it deems “peacekeepers” into eastern Ukraine, but EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed they were “troops” on sovereign Ukrainian territory.

“I wouldn’t say that’s a fully-fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The latest developments were enough to force the 27-nation bloc into a mode of high alert, and the EU’s foreign ministers would be deciding later Tuesday on how deep a first batch of sanctions, including those put forward early Tuesday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel, would have to cut.

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It would likely stop far short of the “massive” package threatened by the EU and Washington for a full military invasion into national territory that Kyiv still controls.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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