Rebels plan to evacuate civilians in east Ukraine amid intense shelling

MOSCOW/KYIV • Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine said yesterday that they planned to evacuate their breakaway region's residents to Russia, a stunning turn in a conflict that the West believes Moscow could use to justify an invasion of Ukraine.

Announcing the move on social media, Mr Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said Russia had agreed to provide accommodation for those who leave. Women, children and the elderly should be evacuated first.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials or from Kyiv. Millions of civilians are believed to live in the two rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine; most are Russian speakers and many have already been granted Russian citizenship.

The eastern Ukraine conflict zone saw the most intense artillery bombardment for years yesterday, with the Kyiv government and the separatists trading blame. Western countries have said they think the shelling, which began on Thursday and intensified in its second day, is part of a pretext to invade.

What has happened "in the last 24 to 48 hours is part of a scenario that is already in place of creating false provocations, of then having to respond to those provocations and then ultimately committing new aggression against Ukraine", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Munich Security Conference yesterday.

The US said Russia - which said it was drawing down troops near Ukraine this week - had done the opposite: ramping up troops menacing its neighbour to between 169,000 and 190,000, from 100,000 at the end of last month.

"This is the most significant military mobilisation in Europe since World War II," US ambassador Michael Carpenter told a meeting at the Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

A diplomatic source with years of direct experience of the conflict described the shelling in eastern Ukraine as the most intense since major combat there ended with a 2015 ceasefire.

Close to 600 explosions were recorded yesterday morning, 100 more than on Thursday, some involving 152mm and 122mm artillery and large mortars, the source said. At least four rounds had been fired from tanks.

"They are shooting - everyone and everything," said the source. "There's been nothing like this since 2014-15."

Other officials have disputed that characterisation, noting that there had been periods of deadly fighting during the ceasefire, and that there were no reports so far of deaths on the front line this week.

Russia denies Western accusations that it is planning an all-out invasion of Ukraine, a country of over 40 million people, in what would potentially be Europe's biggest war in generations.

Western countries have said this week that Russian troops are making the sort of preparations normally seen in the final days before an attack, which could come within days.

Moscow, for its part, said it was closely watching the escalation of shelling in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have faced Moscow-backed rebels since 2014. It described the situation as potentially very dangerous.

Meanwhile, US Vice-President Kamala Harris met Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg yesterday and said there will be "severe consequence" in the form of sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine, a day after President Joe Biden said the threat of an invasion was "very high".

Ms Harris said the work happening on an "hourly basis" to strengthen the US-Nato relationship is critically important and "that's one of the reasons I'm here". "We are also committed, if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequence in terms of the sanctions we have discussed, and we know the alliance is strong in that regard," Ms Harris said.

Mr Biden on Thursday said that the door to a diplomatic solution remains open but "my sense is this will happen in the next several days", referring to a Russian invasion.

Mr Stoltenberg, who spoke briefly, said North America and Europe are doing more now "than they have done in years", a critical step to dealing with Russian aggression. "To have US troops and more US troops in Europe (during) this critical time... really demonstrates the North American and US commitment to our shared security," he said.

REUTERS