Pro-Russians and pro-Ukrainians are engaged in a battle of declarations which echoes the multiplication of clashes on the ground.
As the situation threatened to escalate on the ground in Ukraine, world leaders issued warnings and calls for calm on Friday. The United States, through its Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, accused Russia of massaging “more strength” at the border, “by positioning troops and increasing their logistical capabilities”. An assertion that would contradict the withdrawal announced in recent days by Moscow and again on Friday. The Ukrainian Defense Minister also denied any Russian withdrawal near the borders.
Some 190,000 soldiers, including separatists, were still deployed on Friday around the country and in the enclaves, according to an American official, or 40,000 more than in previous estimates provided by Washington.
For the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, what has been at stake for forty-eight hours is “a scenario [de] Provocation” staged by the Russians to justify an offensive against Ukraine, which the United States has feared and vigorously denounced for several weeks. US President Joe Biden, who was due to speak on Friday evening, spoke with eight heads of state from the Atlantic Alliance during the day, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who tried to mediate of the crisis. He indicated that “Russian military pressure never waned[ssait] not” and called for “cessation of military acts”.
The head of the Kremlin does not flinch
Clashes escalated on Thursday and Friday between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces, as ceasefire violations had declined since the start of this new escalation. Friday evening, these attacks had not yet caused any death, according to the two camps.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is responsible for monitoring the ceasefire established in July 2020 and reinforced last December, reported 24 violations on Wednesday in the Donetsk region, 189 on Thursday, and in the Lugansk region 129 on Wednesday and 402 on Thursday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov distanced himself from the data, accusing the organization of bias and blaming it “to mitigate the points that show the guilt of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”.
The Russian president was himself right in his boots on Friday. “All Kyiv has to do is come to the negotiating table with the representatives [des séparatistes] of the Donbass and get along»said Vladimir Putin as he received his counterpart and ally from Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
The threat of harsh economic sanctions didn’t faze the Kremlin leader either: “Sanctions will be introduced no matter what. Whether there is a reason or not, they will find one because their aim is to hinder the development of Russia.”
Kiev vigorously denied wanting to take back Donbass by force. “The allegations [sur] an offensive are far from reality. Ukraine is NOT carrying out and preparing sabotage actions in Donbass» Foreign Minister Oleg Nikolenko tweeted on Friday evening in reference to a car explosion in the region’s main city.