“He said his will not to retaliate against provocations along the line of contact”, declared the French presidency, referring to the “final efforts” to “avoid a major conflict in Ukraine” with also an interview scheduled for Sunday between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin. “The President of the Republic will take all the risks to preserve stability and peace in Europe. If he has to move again for that, he will do it, ”said the Elysée.
“All signs indicate that Russia is planning a full attack” on Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview broadcast on Saturday by the German channel ARD. “We all agree that the risk of an attack is very high,” added Stoltenberg as NATO announced in the evening the transfer of its personnel present in Ukraine from Kiev to Lviv, in the west of the country, and in Brussels.
While the incidents multiplied on the front in eastern Ukraine, the pro-Russian separatists, who accuse Kiev of wanting to retake their regions, announced a “general mobilization” of men able to fight. On the Ukrainian side, the military command announced on Saturday that two soldiers had been killed in clashes with Moscow-backed separatists. These announcements came at a time when Vladimir Putin was personally supervising large-scale military maneuvers and tests of ballistic and cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads.
US President Joe Biden said he was “convinced” Friday evening that Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine, and that the multiplication of clashes was intended to create a “false justification” to launch the offensive within the week or even the coming days. But he left the door open to dialogue. As long as an invasion hasn’t happened, “diplomacy is always a possibility”, he said. US Vice President Kamala Harris has threatened a build-up of NATO forces in eastern Europe if Russia attacks Ukraine, in addition to ‘severe and swift’ economic sanctions against Moscow.
In eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and pro-Russian separatists accused each other on Saturday of serious ceasefire violations.
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Present Saturday at the G7 on security in Munich, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part asked Westerners to stop their policy of “appeasement” of Russia. “Ukraine received security guarantees when it renounced its nuclear weapons, the third largest in the world. We have no weapons. Nor security. […] But we have the right to demand an end to the policy of appeasement and to ask for guarantees of security and peace,” he said in his speech.
France now recommends that all its nationals leave Ukraine and calls on those in the most exposed areas in the east of the country to leave “without delay”. Germany did the same.
Firefights
In eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and pro-Russian separatists accused each other on Saturday of serious ceasefire violations. OSCE observers recorded more than 1,500 violations of the truce supposed to be in force on the front in eastern Ukraine in 24 hours, they announced in a statement on Saturday evening, a record this year.
For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that Russia was leading “a blatant attempt to rewrite the rules of the international order”. “We can’t let this happen,” she said.
Civilians evacuated
Pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since 2014 in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has already claimed more than 14,000 lives. In addition, the Russian state agency Ria Novosti reported on Friday two explosions, including that of an oil pipeline, in Luhansk, a city in eastern Ukraine held by the separatists. And the authorities of the pro-Russian secessionist territories have ordered the evacuation of civilians to Russia.
On Saturday, the Russian region of Rostov, bordering Ukraine, declared a state of emergency over the influx of refugees from separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. Several thousand people have left these areas, according to local pro-Russian officials.