Ukraine’s breakaway regions mobilise troops

NEW DELHI, February 19

The situation in Ukraine remained murky as the head of the pro-Russian separatist government in its breakaway Donetsk region on Saturday announced a full troop mobilisation fearing an attack by Kyiv after a car of one of its leaders exploded in the downtown.

Putin oversees nuclear drills

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin along with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko oversaw strategic nuclear exercises.

Two explosions also hit another pro-Russian breakaway People’s Republic of Luhansk and a section of a gas pipeline caught fire even as warning sirens blared.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian that “under the passive eye of Paris and Berlin, which are parties to the Normandy talks, Kyiv is building up its military on the contact line in Donbass (as Donetsk and Luhansk are collectively called) and continues armed provocations”.

But the US said this was a Russian ruse to attack Ukraine. US President Joe Biden warned that “we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days… As of this moment, I am convinced that he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) has made the decision.”

Two top US leaders currently barnstorming Europe – Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin – also made similar suggestions. “They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,” said Austin while Harris warned of severe economic consequences if Russia did so.

But leaders of Luhansk and Donetsk, which broke away from Ukraine at the same time as Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, maintained that they were evacuating people to the neighbouring Russia fearing an attack by Kyiv after the explosions.

However, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko denied any offensive in Luhansk and Donetsk and accused Russia of trying to “aggravate an already tense security situation”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has made statements in favour of dialogue as well as vowed to resist, wrote on Instagram on Saturday that “Kyiv will not respond to provocations and strive to establish peace exclusively through diplomacy”.

The crisis has arisen because Russia says NATO and US broke their earlier promise and are expanding all around its borders. After failing to check the NATO advance into the Baltic Republics and several East European countries, Russia has put its foot down on Kyiv also joining the western military alliance.