National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Tuesday it had information that Russia was "laying the groundwork" to annex Ukrainian territory it controls, "in direct violation of Ukraine's sovereignty." He said they were rolling out a version of an "annexation playbook" similar to what was seen in 2014 in Crimea, such as installing proxies in various areas. The regions include all of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.