Russia conducted exercises on Saturday involving the firing of heavy missiles, a new show of force from Moscow at a time when Washington says it is convinced of an imminent invasion of Ukraine.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Germany to meet his Western allies at the Munich Security Conference, while in eastern Ukraine, incidents are increasing between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists .
The latter, who accuse Kiev of wanting to attack them, announced on Saturday a “general mobilization” of men able to fight, after having ordered the evacuation of civilians to neighboring Russia the day before.
Adding to these serious tensions, President Vladimir Putin personally supervised exercises on Saturday “strategic” with “hypersonic” missile firenew weapons that the head of the Kremlin previously called “invincible” and capable of carrying nuclear charges.
“The main objective of the exercises is to train the strategic offensive forces to inflict guaranteed defeat on the enemy”Russian Chief of Staff Valeri Guerassimov said during a meeting by videoconference, where Mr Putin appeared alongside his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
“The planned objectives […] have been fully accomplished, all the missiles hit the set targets”the Kremlin said, adding that these maneuvers involved Tu-95 bombers and submarines.
At the same time, the Americans are still accusing Moscow, which has massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine’s eastern borders, of preparing to attack that country.
Russians “are deploying and preparing to strike”US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Saturday during a visit to Lithuania, adding that soldiers from Moscow “move to the appropriate positions to be able to carry out an attack”.
The day before, US President Joe Biden said “convinced” that Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, and that the multiplication of clashes was aimed at creating a “false vindication” to launch an offensive.
But he left the door open to dialogue. Until an invasion has occurred, “diplomacy is always a possibility”he estimated.
In this sense, a meeting between its Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled for next Thursday.
The Kremlin continues to deny any intention to attack its neighbour, a pro-Western country that the Kremlin wants to bring back into its sphere of influence. But he demands guarantees for Russia’s security, such as the withdrawal of NATO’s military infrastructure from Eastern Europe and the assurance that Ukraine will never join the Alliance, demands deemed unacceptable by Westerners.
Moscow’s concerns about Ukraine must “to be respected”Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.
From Munich, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on him for “unity” among Western allies, while US Vice-President Kamala Harris spoke of the threat of NATO strengthening in eastern Europe. Europe in case of Russian attack and warned Moscow of economic sanctions “hard and fast”.
On the front in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists accused each other on Saturday of new serious ceasefire violations. Kiev announced the death of one of its soldiers during these clashes.
The Ukrainian army reported 66 exchanges of mortar fire, 82 and 110 mm caliber, on the towns of the front until 7 a.m., a high number.
And OSCE observers said on Saturday that they had observed a “dramatic increase” ceasefire violations, for a total of 870 on Friday.
According to them, the number of armed incidents on the front line is now the same as before July 2020, the date of an agreement to strengthen the ceasefire.
Pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since 2014 in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has already claimed more than 14,000 lives.
In addition, Moscow announced on Saturday the opening of an investigation after the report in the media that a Ukrainian shot had fallen in Russian territory, near the Ukrainian border, without causing damage or victims.
The Russian region of Rostov, bordering Ukraine, has declared a state of emergency to deal with a possible influx of refugees from separatist areas. Nearly 20,000 people have left these areas, according to local pro-Russian officials.
“We decided to go to the grandmother’s (in Russia) where it’s quiet, we had our dose in 2014, we don’t want to wait until the last moment”said Elena Sokela, a resident of the “Republic“Donetsk separatist arrived on the Russian side on Saturday morning with her 16-year-old son.
Washington and Kiev claim that Moscow has around 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, in Russia and Belarus, a figure that rises to 190,000 when counting separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
This is “the greatest concentration of military troops” since the Cold War, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
For its part, Russia has never disclosed the number of its soldiers massed on the borders of Ukraine or participating in maneuvers in neighboring Belarus.
The West has promised devastating economic sanctions against Moscow in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. Threats again brushed aside by Vladimir Putin, who argued on Friday that these sanctions will fall “whatever happens”.
NATO moves staff to Ukraine from Kyiv to Lviv and Brussels
NATO has transferred its personnel present in Ukraine from Kiev to Lviv, in the west of the country, and to Brussels, to ensure their safety, an official from the Alliance told AFP on Saturday. “The safety of our staff is paramount, so staff have been relocated to Lviv and Brussels. NATO offices in Ukraine remain operational”said a NATO official without giving personnel figures.
Several Western countries have already moved diplomats from Kiev to Lviv, a city near the border with Poland, in anticipation of Russian military action.
Brussels hosts NATO headquarters. “NATO and allied countries are monitoring and evaluating the situation very closely, and continue to take all necessary measures,” said the Alliance official.
The United States is the dominant player in NATO and US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he was “convinced” that Russia was going to invade Ukraine within a week, and have its forces target Kiev.