KYIV, Ukraine — Hundreds of artillery shells exploded along the contact line between Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists, and thousands of people evacuated eastern Ukraine over the weekend further increasing fears Sunday that the volatile region could see a Russian invasion.
Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbor, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment.
Russia held nuclear drills Saturday in neighboring Belarus and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.
Minsk announced Sunday that the Russian military exercises in Belarus will continue, leaving Moscow with a large force near the northern Ukraine border.
The announcement came as French President Emmanuel Macron called Russia’s Vladimir Putin for talks the Elysee described as “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine.”
Moscow had previously said the 30,000 troops it has in Belarus were simply carrying out readiness drills with its ally, which would be finished by February 20, allowing the Russians to head back to their bases.
But, as the day arrived for the operation to end, the Belarus defense ministry said Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had decided to “continue inspections,” citing increased military activity on their shared borders and an alleged “escalation” in east Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko (L) watch training launches of ballistic missiles as part of the Grom-2022 Strategic Deterrence Force exercise, from the situational center of the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow on February 19, 2022 (Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP)
The move will be seen as a further tightening of the screws on Ukraine, already facing increased shelling from Russian-backed separatist rebels and a force of what Western capitals say is more than 150,000 Russian personnel on its borders.
It will also be seen as a rebuff to efforts by leaders like Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz to urge their Russian counterpart to pull back from the brink of war.
The United States and many European countries have alleged for months that Russia is trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive, immediate sanctions if it does.
Russia has denied plans to invade.
A top European Union official, Charles Michel, said Sunday that “the big question remains: does the Kremlin want dialogue?”
“We cannot forever offer an olive branch while Russia conducts missile tests and continues to amass troops,” Michel, the president of the European Council, said at the Munich Security Conference.
“One thing is certain: if there is further military aggression, we will react with massive sanctions,” he said.
President of the European Council Charles Michel speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 20, 2022. (Michael Probst/AP)
Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine on Saturday ordered a full military mobilization and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are being endangered might be used as justification for military action.
In new signs of fears that a war could start within days, Germany and Austria told their citizens to leave Ukraine. German air carrier Lufthansa canceled flights to the capital, Kyiv, and to Odessa, a Black Sea port that could be a key target in an invasion.
NATO’s liaison office in Kyiv said it was relocating staff to Brussels and to the western Ukraine city of Lviv.
US President Joe Biden said late Friday that based on the latest American intelligence, he was now “convinced” that Putin has decided to invade Ukraine in the coming days and assault the capital.
Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands in a shelter on a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, Feb. 19, 2022. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
Elsewhere on the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers said they were under orders not to return fire. Zahar Leshushun, peering into the distance with a periscope, had followed the news all day from a trench where he is posted near the town of Zolote.
“Right now, we don’t respond to their fire because…” the soldier started to explain before being interrupted by the sound of an incoming shell. “Oh! They are shooting at us now. They are aiming at the command post.”
Sporadic violence has broken out for years along the line separating Ukrainian forces from the Russia-backed separatists, but the spike seen in recent days is orders of magnitude higher than anything recently recorded by international monitors: nearly 1,500 explosions recorded in 24 hours.
Ukraine’s military said two of its soldiers died in firing from the separatist side on Saturday.
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