NHK led with Russian President Putin’s announcement yesterday that he has recognized parts of two provinces in eastern Ukraine as “independent states.” Commercial TV networks’ top items included the arrest on Sunday of a mother for child abuse resulting in the death of her seven-year-old son in Kanagawa in 2019 (NTV, TV Asahi) and snowstorms in Hokkaido and northern Tohoku (Fuji TV).

Top items in national dailies included an agreement by the U.S. and Russian leaders to hold talks again over Ukraine (Asahi, Mainichi), a possible plan by the GOJ to restrict exports of semiconductors to Russia if it invades Ukraine (Yomiuri), President Putin’s recognition of two regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities (Sankei), and the GOJ’s plan to buy technical documents related to defense technology from companies that are withdrawing from the defense industry to prevent the leakage of such information (Nikkei).