07:13 PM
Friday February 18 2022
Agencies:
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on the international community to respond to the Russian threats, following an explosion in the east of the country near the separatist-controlled area, according to Al-Arabiya TV.
Russian media reported, a huge explosion occurred in the city of Donetsk, near the seat of the government controlled by the separatists.
The RT correspondent reported that sirens sounded in the southeastern city of Donetsk after announcing the start of the evacuation of its civilians to Russia in anticipation of an attack by Kiev government forces.
It is not yet clear whether this came during local authorities’ testing of the citizens’ alert system or as a result of any accident.
This comes in the wake of the announcement by the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in southeastern Ukraine that they will begin evacuating citizens to Russia, in anticipation of an imminent massive attack by Ukrainian government forces.