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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said early Thursday that Russia had approved an offensive against his country, shortly after the Kremlin announced that leaders from the Donetsk and Luhansk border regions had asked Moscow for help.
In a televised speech, Zelensky said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had not responded to his invitation to hold talks regarding the conflict between the two countries.
The Ukrainian leader also said that Russia has “almost 200,000 soldiers on the borders of Ukraine and thousands of combat vehicles”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov had said hours earlier that the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk called on Russian forces to enter their separatist regions in eastern Ukraine to “help repel the aggression of the forces and armed units of Ukraine”.
“The appeals underline that due to the deteriorating situation and threats from Kiev, the citizens of the republics have been forced to leave their homes and their evacuation to Russia continues,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the official Russian news agency TASS. .
“The Kiev regime is concentrating on resolving the conflict by force,” says a call from the separatists transmitted by Peskov.
“While the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces continues, civil and industrial infrastructure, schools, hospitals and kindergartens are being destroyed in the republics“, he noted, referring to the two regions of eastern Ukraine that Russia recognized on Monday as independent nations.
“The worst thing is the death of the civilian population, including children. The actions of the Kiev regime testify to the unwillingness to stop the war in Donbas,” Peskov quoted from the text of the letters.
There is no evidence to confirm these claims.
The spokesman added: “Kiev continues to increase its military presence on the line of contact, receiving comprehensive support, including military support, from the US and other Western countries.”
According to the Kremlin, the Russian troops are operating with the “purpose of avoiding casualties among peaceful residents and a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of supporting a “genocide” in the Donbas region.
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There is no evidence of genocide in eastern Ukraine, although more than 14,000 people have died since 2014 in an ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels.
Separatists call for Ukraine to give in
Separatist leader Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, said Ukrainian forces should withdraw from the territory and take their weapons with them.
Pushilin told Russian state media that the departure of the Ukrainian troops was the best option.
The separatists claim a much larger area of territory in Ukraine than they currently control.
“We will not go to war with Russia”
The United States has accused Russia of masterminding the so-called “false flag incidents“provocations prepared to create a pretext for action.
However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated on Wednesday that The US will not go to war with Russia.
“We are not going to be in a war with Russia or put military troops in Ukraine to fight Russia,” he said.
A reporter asked if that holds even if Russia “takes all of Ukraine.”
“That’s several steps down the road, but what I will tell you is that the president was very clear and consistent: He is not sending US troops to Ukraine.”
State of emergency in Ukraine
This same Wednesday, the Ukrainian Parliament approved a resolution to declare a state of emergency in the country for 30 days from midnight local time.
This framework allows authorities to check citizens’ documentation and gives the government the ability to impose a curfew if required.
Ukraine will impose restrictions on a number of radio and digital communication services. And it means that military reservists will not be able to leave the country.
The declaration affects all of Ukraine in addition to the two eastern regions that have been in a state of emergency since 2014.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s government also urged all Ukrainian citizens in Russia to leave the country as soon as possible.
Another moment of extreme danger for Ukraine
Analysis by Paul Adams, BBC Diplomacy Correspondent
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Civilians arrive in Moscow after being evacuated from the Donbas region.
According to Russian media, the leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine, have written to Vladimir Putin asking for his help in repelling what they describe as aggression by Ukraine’s military.
Both accused Ukraine of attacking schools and hospitals and of being unwilling to end the war in Donbas.
All the evidence in recent days points to Russian-backed separatists being responsible for the latest escalation, not Ukraine.
Wednesday night’s appeal to the Kremlin appears to be the latest in a series of pre-planned moves that are bringing this country closer to a wider conflict.
On Monday, Putin offered to send what he called “peacekeepers” to defend the two breakaway areas, which he had just recognized as independent.
So far there has been little or no sign that more Russian troops are crossing the border. That could now change.
This is another instance of extreme danger for Ukraine.
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