Ukraine Warns Of Provocation As Military Convoys Move In East
Moscow (Alliance News) – Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of sending more troops and heavy weapons across the border into separatist-controlled areas in the country’s east, and warned that Moscow was seeking a pretext to station peacekeepers there.
The National Security Council said in Kyiv that it believes that two convoys of heavy weapons and tanks observed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)came from Russia.
“We have no doubt on the origin of trucks, howitzers and soldiers in green uniform,” Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said, according to an official transcript.
OSCE observers on Saturday said they saw a convoy of more than 40 trucks and tankers without markings or number plates moving westward on a highway east of the city of Donetsk.
Nineteen of the lorries were towing howitzers “and contained personnel in dark green uniforms without insignia,” the organization said in a statement released late Saturday.
The observers also spotted a convoy of nine unmarked tanks driving westward in southern Donetsk.
The organization did not say where the convoys might have come from, but Ukraine said Friday that 32 tanks, 16 howitzers and 30 trucks with ammunition and personnel crossed into Ukraine from Russia.
National Security Council spokesman Lysenko warned on Sunday that Russia might be preparing attacks in order to station permanent troops.
“A massive provocation like terrorist acts or armed attacks, for which they will blame Ukraine, in order to station so-called peacekeeping forces, remains likely,” he said.
Russia vehemently denies sending any troops to Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Beijing on Saturday that he had “no information” about Russian troops and tanks being in eastern Ukraine.
The rebels also denied that Russia had sent reinforcements. Eduard Basurin, a senior militia commander in Donetsk, said that the separatists were only moving fresh troops to the frontline. “We have to rotate some of our formations,” Basurin told Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency.
The OSCE said that the latest reports describe activities undermining the ceasefire commitments. The organization’s chairman-in-office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, said that he is “very concerned” about a resurgence of violence in the region.
The US on Sunday said it was also “very concerned” about reports that Russian-backed separatists were moving “large convoys of heavy weapons and tanks to the front lines of the conflict.”
“Any attempt by separatist forces to seize additional territory in eastern Ukraine would be a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
“We reiterate our call on the Russian Federation to honor all of the commitments it made in Minsk, including ending its military supply to the separatists and the withdrawal of all of its troops and weapons from Ukraine.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that is imperative to avoid any re-escalation of hostilities.
“All parties must now show utmost restraint,” she said, adding that Russia should “fully assume its responsibilities” by preventing any further movement of weapons or fighters and ensuring that the separatists implement the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the city of Donetsk has seen some of the heaviest fighting in months. Artillery fire raged in northern districts throughout the night, Saturday into Sunday, city authorities said Sunday.
Fighting has been ongoing despite a ceasefire. It is centred on Donetsk airport, located north of the city and held by Ukrainian troops.
Copyright dpa
