Bombings in eastern Ukraine amid conflicting reports of Russian military movements

LAST UPDATE: 14.20

Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces are now exchanging accusations of attacks across the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, raising “alarm” at a time when Western countries are warning of a possible Russian invasion. dot.

Moscow, which has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, has denied plans to invade Ukraine and said this week it was withdrawing some troops. The West, however, denies that there has been a significant withdrawal.

According to Reuters, it was not immediately possible to determine whether the reports of bombings along the front line amounted to escalation or whether they were part of a pattern of ceasefire violations that is routine in a dispute that enters its eighth year.

Western nations have repeatedly accused Russia of plotting to use the incident in the rebel-held territory to justify an attack, while Moscow has accused Kiev of plotting to seize territory by force.

A Reuters photographer in the city of Kadiivka in Ukraine’s rebel-held Luhansk region heard the sound of some artillery fire, but was unable to determine the details of the incident.

The separatists have accused Ukrainian government forces of firing on their territory four times in the past 24 hours. Kiev, for its part, accused the rebels of firing shells, including some that hit a kindergarten.

According to Reuters, a diplomatic source said that a long-term monitoring mission by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe had recorded multiple bombings along the line of contact in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Since 2015, when a ceasefire put an end to major battles in the separatist conflict, the OSCE typically reports dozens of ceasefire violations every day, with significant bombings or clashes leading to injuries or deaths several times a month.

The self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Luhansk, one of the two rebel-held areas, said Ukrainian forces used mortars, grenade launchers and a machine gun in four separate incidents on Thursday.

“Ukraine’s armed forces have violated the ceasefire by using heavy weapons, which, according to the Minsk agreements, should be withdrawn,” the separatists said in a statement.

Referring to the rebels, the Ukrainian army said: “With particular cynicism, the Russian occupation troops bombed the village of Stanytsa Lugansk in the Luhansk region. As a result of the use of heavy artillery by terrorists, the shells hit a kindergarten building. data, two citizens were shocked by a shell “.

According to all Russian central media, citing information from the Donetsk news agency, as well as the testimonies of their correspondents, for more than two hours from 05:32 to 07:42 local time “Ukrainian army units fired on nine settlements in Donetsk and Lugansk with 160 projectiles and mortar shells typically over 12.7 mm “. This was stated by the representatives of the two local administrations in the Joint Control and Coordination Center of the Fire Cease Regime, which operates in accordance with the provisions of the Minsk agreements for the settlement of the Ukrainian civil war and for the monitoring of their observance. The affected settlements are reported to be Cominternovo, Oktyabr, Novolaspa, Petrovskoe in the Donetsk region and Veselenkoe, Donietski, Zolotoe-5, Nizhny Lozovoe, Sokolniki in the Lugansk region.

The local Russian-speaking administrations announced that they responded to the Ukrainian fires and for a long time there was an exchange of fire, without any information about the victims and the extent of the damage, while of course it is considered that the ceasefire no longer exists.

Russia has denied plans to invade Ukraine, but says it could take indefinite “military-technical” action unless a number of demands are met, including a promise that Kiev will never be admitted to NATO.

The West has rejected the main Russian demands, but has proposed talks on arms control and other issues. The United States and Europe have threatened to impose sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion, which Moscow has largely rejected.

Conflicting information about the withdrawal of Russian troops

Russia has “increased” the presence of troops on the border with Ukraine by at least “7,000 troops”, some of whom arrived there on Wednesday, a senior White House official said, calling Moscow a “false” announcement that it had withdrawn some troops. .

“Yesterday the Russians announced that they were withdrawing troops from the border with Ukraine (…). We now know that this is false. In fact we have now confirmed that in recent days Russia has increased its presence along the Ukrainian border by as much as 7,000 soldiers, some of whom arrived today “(s.s .: yesterday Wednesday), he insisted, speaking on condition of anonymity to journalists.

The US official also stressed that Moscow could “at any time” conduct an operation that would serve as a pretext to invade Ukraine, adding: “Russia says it wants a diplomatic solution, but its actions indicate the opposite “.

“We hope it will change direction before launching a catastrophic war.”

According to the official, the operation to find a pretext may take “different forms”, such as a “challenge” in the Donbass region or an alleged “invasion” of Russian territory.

Noting that he expects “more false news from the Russian state media in the coming days”, the official stressed “we hope the world is ready”.

Maxar Technologies, a private US company monitoring the gathering of Russian troops, said satellite images showed that while Russia had withdrawn some military equipment from the area near Ukraine, other equipment had reached the spot.

On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video today which shows troops and military equipment from the western military area returning to their permanent bases after finishing high schools.

The ministry explained that the armor and tanks will travel about 1,000 kilometers by train.

No details were given about the area where the high schools took place, but also about the location of the permanent bases of these units.

Meanwhile, the RIA news agency, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported that about ten convoys of Russian troops left Crimea after completing high schools there.

“In the mind” of the West

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had seen no signs of a reduction in troops concentrated on the border with Ukraine, but only “small movements”.

At the same time, the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises are scheduled to end on February 20. Minsk has vowed that “not a single soldier” from Russia will remain on its territory after high school.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with sarcasm from Westerners during a meeting today with his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, saying the crisis was unfolding “in the minds” of Western leaders and the media.

Supplies of weapons and equipment to Kiev from the West are growing along with fears of an invasion, which fuels the anger of Russians who believe Ukraine wants to launch an offensive against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.

Conversations

Earlier in the week, the Kremlin and the White House said they were ready for an in-depth dialogue on Europe’s security architecture.

A first sign of de-escalation, after the strong diplomatic moves of the Europeans, especially after the visits to Moscow and Kiev of the German Chancellor Olaf Soltz and the French President Emanuel Macron.

Moscow says it wants to negotiate while criticizing the West’s rejection of its key demands: an end to NATO expansion, especially Ukraine, the non-proliferation of offensive weapons near Russian territory, and the removal of NATO infrastructure from NATO. East Europe.

The West has proposed talks on issues such as arms control, reciprocal visits to sensitive infrastructure, and talks on Russian security concerns.

Moscow is going to send its written responses to these proposals today, Lavrov said.

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