Ukraine is braced for a major attack from separatist rebels backed by Russia, officials in Kiev say, as Washington calls for more pressure on Moscow and rejects claims that it is not reinforcing the militants.
Nato supports Kiev’s assertion that Moscow has deployed tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in eastern Ukraine over the past week, following sightings of military convoys without insignia travelling through rebel-held areas near the Russian border.
"The Russian occupiers are shooting at the positions of Ukrainian servicemen and directly at residential areas," Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said yesterday, adding that four soldiers had been killed and 18 wounded in the previous 24 hours.
Col Lysenko said Russian forces were “constantly” crossing the border in military vehicles, and that Ukrainian servicemen had clashed with rebel or Russian units in several areas, coming under mortar, missile and tank fire.
Ukrainian defence minister Stepan Poltorak – who earlier said his forces were “repositioning to respond to the actions of the militants” and that his main task was “to prepare for military action” – said yesterday that an anticipated rebel onslaught had not begun.
“It is premature to speak of an attack by the terrorists; it has not been confirmed so far today,” he said. “But one can expect anything from the terrorists and the Russian armed forces – the main thing is to be prepared. If there is action, there will be a reaction.”
Sanctions against Russia
Pressure is again building on western leaders to tighten or extend sanctions against Russian and rebel-linked firms, politicians and businessmen, despite the reluctance of some EU states to further sour economic relations with Moscow.
"We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air-defence systems and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine," said US Air Force general Philip Breedlove, who is Nato's top military commander. "We do not have a good picture at this time of how many. We agree that there are multiple columns that we have seen."
Ukrainian officials claim that thousands of Russian soldiers are now in rebel-held parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which exploded into conflict soon after Russia flooded Crimea with troops and annexed the peninsula in March.
At an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday, US envoy Samantha Power said Russia "talks of peace, but it keeps fuelling war" in Ukraine. "Is there a risk that the situation is getting out of control? Yes, there is that risk." Ms Power added that this was an "extremely worrying period" for Ukraine.
“What we need to do is keep ratcheting up the pressure,” she said, until Russia “chooses the path of de-escalation”.
Russia insisted that it has no official involvement in Ukraine’s conflict, and called on Kiev to open dialogue with representatives of the separatist “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Officials from the EU and US discussed Ukraine yesterday, but foreign ministers are not expected to back further measures against Moscow when they meet on Monday.
