Russian-backed separatists announce evacuation from east Ukraine | Ukraine-Russia crisis News

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have said they planned to evacuate their breakaway region’s residents to Russia, a stunning turn in a conflict the West believes Moscow could use to justify an invasion of Ukraine.

Announcing the move on social media, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said on Friday Russia had agreed to provide accommodation for those who leave. Women, children and the elderly should be evacuated first.

The head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic later made a similar evacuation announcement.

“To prevent civilian casualties, I call on residents of the republic … to leave for the Russian Federation as soon as possible,” Leonid Pasechnik said in a statement.

The separatist leaders accused Kyiv of planning an offensive and government forces of carrying out sabotage, in what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dubbed a strategy of “creating false provocations”.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials or from Kyiv. Millions of civilians are believed to live in the two rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine; most are Russian speakers and many have already been granted Russian citizenship.

The eastern Ukraine conflict zone saw the most intense artillery bombardment for years on Friday, with the Kyiv government and the separatists trading blame.

Western countries have said they think the shelling, which began on Thursday and intensified on its second day, is part of Russian preparations to stage a pretext to invade.

The US said Russia – which said it has started drawing down troops near Ukraine this week – had done the opposite: ramping up the force menacing its neighbour to between 169,000 and 190,000 troops, from 100,000 at the end of January.

“This is the most significant military mobilisation in Europe since the second world war,” US ambassador Michael Carpenter told a meeting at the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

‘They are shooting’

A diplomatic source with years of direct experience of the conflict described shelling in eastern Ukraine as the most intense since major combat there ended with a 2015 ceasefire.

Close to 600 explosions were recorded on Friday morning, 100 more than on Thursday, some involving 152mm and 122mm artillery and large mortars, the source said. At least four rounds had been fired from tanks.

“They are shooting – everyone and everything,” said the source. “There’s been nothing like this since 2014-15.”

Other officials have disputed that characterisation, noting that there had been periods of deadly fighting during the ceasefire, and that there were no reports so far of deaths at the front line this week.

A journalist with the AFP news agency near the front line between government forces and rebel-held territory in the Luhansk region heard the thud of explosions and saw damaged civilian buildings.

All eyes are on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next move as Moscow announced he will oversee a weekend drill of “strategic forces” – ballistic and cruise missiles.

“Right now we are seeing a deterioration of the situation,” Putin said at a news conference with his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow.

Putin, who has demanded promises from the West that NATO will not expand eastwards, said the military drills held near Ukraine’s border in recent weeks – involving tens of thousands of soldiers – are not a threat.

“These exercises are purely defensive in nature and do not threaten anyone.”

He said the West and its allies are “not yet inclined to look seriously at these key security demands”.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday accused Russia of spreading disinformation that Kyiv planned to launch attacks in eastern Ukraine or sabotage chemical plans in the region.

“We categorically refute Russian disinformation reports on Ukraine’s alleged offensive operations or acts of sabotage… Ukraine does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas [region],” he said on Twitter.

We categorically refute Russian disinformation reports on Ukraine’s alleged offensive operations or acts of sabotage in chemical production facilities. Ukraine does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas. We are fully committed to diplomatic conflict resolution only.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 18, 2022

Kuleba did not specify which reports he was referring to.

Russia has denied Western accusations that it is planning an all-out invasion of Ukraine, a country of more than 40 million people.

Western countries have said this week that Russian troops are making the sort of preparations normally seen in the final days before an attack, which could come within days.

Moscow, for its part, said it was closely watching the escalation of shelling in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have faced Moscow-backed rebels since 2014. It described the situation as potentially very dangerous.