Bombings and evacuations in eastern Ukraine raise fears of Russian invasion

The clashes multiplied this Friday in the east of Ukrainewhere the separatists ordered the evacuation of civilians towards Russiaraising fears that the president Vladimir Putin is finalizing preparations to invade the country.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, denounced the launch ofa stage” from “provocations” to justify an attack on Ukraine.

A State Department spokesman considered “cynical and cruel to use human beings as pawns, in order to distract attention from the fact that Russia is reinforcing its troops in the face of an attack.”

An American official estimated that Russia it had 190,000 troops in and around Ukraine, including separatist forces. Until now, there was talk of 150,000 on the country’s borders.

Is about “the largest concentration of military troops” since the end of the Cold War, considered the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergwho pointed out that Russia “could go on the attack without any form of warning.”

The American President, Joe Bidenwill hold a videoconference with the leaders of several European and NATO countries and plans to make statements later.

Putin accused Ukraine to stir up the conflict and admitted a “Aggravation of the situation” in Donbas, a region where the Ukrainian army has been fighting separatist forces for eight years.

“All Kiev has to do is go to the negotiating table with the representatives of [los separatistas] of the Donbas and talk”Putin declared when receiving his Belarusian counterpart and ally, Alexander Lukashenko.

Take up arms

The belligerents accuse each other of violating a truce and using heavy weapons. Western countries have threatened Russia with economic sanctions if she decides to attack Ukraine.

“Sanctions will be imposed no matter what happens. Whether there is a reason or not, they will find one, because their goal is to stop the development of Russia.” Putin considered.

The United States and the United Kingdom have accused Russian intelligence services of the cyberattack perpetrated this week against Ukraine’s banking sector. Kiev had already blamed Russia for it, but Moscow denied this.

The rumble of bombs was heard in Stanytsia Luhanska, a Ukrainian town under the control of government forces, AFP journalists said. The day before, this city was already the target of bombing, which reached a nursery, in an attack that miraculously left no one dead.

Denis Pushilin, separatist leader of the Donetsk region, announced an evacuation of civilians to Russia, “First of all, women, children and the elderly.”

Leonid Pasechnik, leader of Luhansk, did the same and asked “all men capable of bearing a weapon, defend their country”.

Putin ordered that 10,000 rubles (about 114 euros, 129 dollars) be paid to each evacuee from those areas. Russian television networks broadcast images of evacuations of children in an orphanage.

According to the US government, Russia is seeking a “pretext” to attack Ukraine, and increased violence in Donbas could be one as Moscow sees itself as a defender of the region’s Russian-speaking populations, among whom it has handed out Russian passports in the past.

France and Germany urged Russia to use its influence with the separatists, in order to “encourage moderation and contribute to a de-escalation”.

14,000 dead

This Friday, dozens of violations of the ceasefire were reported, but neither side reported deaths on the front line, several hundred kilometers long. Since 2014, the conflict has claimed more than 14,000 lives.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported a significant increase in gunfire, with 189 ceasefire violations in the Donetsk region on Thursday, compared to 24 the day before. In Luhansk, 402 rapes were reported on Thursday and 129 on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the OSCE of bias and of “softening the points that show the guilt of the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The agreements signed in 2015 in Minsk allowed the establishment of a ceasefire and a considerable decrease in clashes, although violent clashes continued to take place from time to time.

Russia, which already annexed a Ukrainian territory, Crimea, in 2014, denies planning to invade Ukraine.

Moscow demands guarantees on its security, such as that NATO put an end to its expansion policy, preventing an eventual accession of Ukraine; to commit not to deploy offensive weapons near Russian territory and to withdraw its infrastructure in Eastern Europe. Some demands rejected by Western countries.