This episode contains strong language.

On Monday night, as tensions deepened between Russia and Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin sent troops into two regions in eastern Ukraine where separatist forces are friendly to Moscow.

With dispatches from our reporters on the ground, we analyze why the crisis has deteriorated in the past few days and whether the orders are a precursor to a wider war.

Guest: Valerie Hopkins, a correspondent based in Moscow for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The moves by Mr. Putin were his most blatant yet in a confrontation with the West that threatens to escalate into the biggest military action in Europe since World War II.
• In a speech to Russians on Monday, Mr. Putin buoyed his case for the invasion of rebel territories by arguing that the idea of Ukraine statehood was a fiction.
• Here’s what to know about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

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