“Right now we are seeing a worsening of the situation,” Putin told a news conference with his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on Friday afternoon.
The two had met to discuss security policy.
On the same day, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin by telephone. Austin urged Shoigu to help reduce the situation by withdrawing Russian troops from the border and finding a diplomatic solution.
– False provocations
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia has created “false provocations” in Ukraine in the last 24 to 48 hours.
The bombings in eastern Ukraine over the past 48 hours are part of Russia’s attempt to create “false provocations” to justify further “aggression” against Ukraine, US Blinken said at the security conference in Munich on Friday.
– HARD: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes Putin has deliberately created false provocations in Ukraine. Photo: Sandra Sanders / Reuters
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The statement comes on the same day that the self-proclaimed leader of the Donetsk breakaway region in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, stated that he had initiated a mass evacuation to Russia.
According to separatists, Ukrainian government forces attacked the area with artillery on Friday night and destroyed two substations.
The Ukrainian army, for its part, has accused the separatists of more than 20 breaches of the ceasefire in recent hours, but this has not been independently confirmed.
Alerts mass evacuation
The self-proclaimed leader of the Donetsk breakaway region in eastern Ukraine said on Friday that they had begun a mass evacuation of civilians to Russia.
– From today, a mass evacuation of the population to Russia has been organized. Women, children and the elderly will be evacuated first, says Pushilin, who accuses Ukrainian government forces of planning an attack on Donetsk.
“In the near future, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj will order his troops to launch an offensive,” said Pushilin, who has been Donetsk leader since 2014.
There are just over 4.1 million people living in the Donetsk region, and most of them are Russian-speaking.
Donetsk and Luhansk have been controlled by separatists for almost eight years. They receive both financial and military support from Russia, and up to 1 million Russian passports will also be distributed in the two regions since 2019.
Asks for a ceasefire
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for a halt to artillery attacks in eastern Ukraine.
– The bombing in the contact zone has been resumed. Firstly, we want to call for a halt to military action and a rapid reduction, and secondly, we want the constructive negotiations to be resumed, Macron said after the EU-Africa summit in Brussels.
– REQUESTS Ceasefire: French President Emmanuel Macron calls for an end to artillery attacks in eastern Ukraine. Photo: John Thys / AP
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According to separatists in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian government forces attacked the area with artillery on Friday night, destroying two substations.
The Ukrainian army, for its part, has accused the separatists of more than 20 breaches of the ceasefire in recent hours.
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