Western leaders stated Russia was following a “playbook of deception” to justify an invasion of Ukraine, amid intensifying clashes within the east of the nation between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Talking on the Munich Safety Convention, US vice-president Kamala Harris stated Moscow was creating false pretexts for an assault whereas amassing troops and firepower in plain sight.
“We’re seeing Russia spreading disinformation, lies and propaganda,” Harris informed the annual get-together of politicians, diplomats and navy officers, calling it “the playbook of Russian aggression”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky stated Ukraine had fallen sufferer to an “info struggle, a hybrid struggle” however was “not responding to any provocations”.
“We all know they’re firing from civilian areas, to impress us, to make us reply,” he stated. “We have to preserve calm.”
The huge Russian troop build-up on the Ukrainian border has raised fears of a brand new struggle within the coronary heart of Europe.
Western leaders talking on the convention referred to as for a diplomatic resolution, urging Russia to “pull again from the brink”. However additionally they warned Moscow of the implications of an invasion: far-reaching sanctions that they warned would inflict enormous injury on its economic system.
Zelensky used his look in Munich to enchantment to the west to face by Ukraine, and stated western nations had let Kyiv down by appeasing Russia.
“Some nations are committing crimes whereas others are detached, and that indifference has turned them into accomplices,” he stated.
Zelensky referred to a speech Vladimir Putin gave on the Munich convention in 2007 when he “threw down a problem to the worldwide safety system”.
“How did the world reply? Appeasement,” he stated. “What do we’ve got consequently? The annexation of Crimea and aggression in opposition to my nation.”
Talking to CNN on the sidelines of the Munich convention on Saturday, Zelensky instructed Kyiv had a “totally different imaginative and prescient” than the west about when to use sanctions. Whereas the US and allies wish to impose them after an assault as a punitive measure, Zelensky stated they need to be imposed instantly, significantly since an assault appeared shut.
“We don’t want your sanctions after the bombardment will occur and after our nation will probably be fired at or after we could have no borders, or after we could have no economic system . . . why would we want these sanctions then?”
In a press release on Saturday, the G7 international ministers stated: “Whereas we’re able to discover diplomatic options to deal with reputable safety considerations, Russia must be in little doubt that any additional navy aggression in opposition to Ukraine could have large penalties, together with monetary and financial sanctions on a big selection of sectoral and particular person targets that might impose extreme and unprecedented prices on the Russian economic system. We’ll take coordinated restrictive measures in case of such an occasion.”
Ukrainian joint forces commander, Oleksander Pavlyuk stated the scenario round Donetsk and Luhansk had deteriorated over the previous three days.
“If we take into accounts the previous three months there have been 3-5 ceasefire violations per day. In comparison with that quantity, on Feb 17 we had 60 incidents of ceasefire violations by the Russian Federation Forces and 43 incidents of weapons banned by the Minsk agreements,” Lt Gen Pavlyuk stated.
Ukraine stated two troopers had been killed and 4 injured throughout shelling within the japanese border area of Donbas, the place greater than 14,000 have died in a slow-burning struggle that broke out after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukrainian navy officers and lawmakers touring frontline areas had been pressured to evacuate after coming underneath artillery fireplace.
Russian-backed separatist leaders in Donbas accused Kyiv of finishing up “terror assaults” that they stated, with out offering proof, left unspecified numbers lifeless and wounded.
Russia stated Ukrainian artillery fireplace had landed on the Russian aspect of the border. Zelensky dismissed the reviews as “lies”.
The separatist leaders introduced a mass evacuation of civilians to Russia — the place Putin promised them a fee of Rbs100,000 — and referred to as on all fighting-age males to mobilise.
Timecodes on the separatists’ video appeals had been dated Wednesday — earlier than the uptick in shelling started — including to suspicions of a false flag operation as a pretext to invade.
British prime minister Boris Johnson stated the world wanted to arrange for “Russian playbook of deception” including Moscow was “spinning an online of falsehoods designed to current any Russian assault as a response to provocation”.
Germany and France urged their residents to depart Ukraine. They’d beforehand kept away from calls to evacuate made by nations together with the US and the UK.
Lufthansa, which owns airways together with Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss, stated it will cease common flights to Kyiv and Odesa till the top of February. KLM and Norwegian have additionally cancelled flights to Ukraine.
Exacerbating the tensions, Russia started strategic nuclear workout routines on Saturday.
Harris warned the west would impose “far-reaching monetary sanctions and export controls” in opposition to Moscow ought to Putin give the order to assault Ukraine.
“Make no mistake, the imposition of those sweeping and co-ordinated measures will inflict nice injury on those that should be held accountable,” she stated.
Johnson stated within the occasion of an invasion the west would “sanction Russian people and firms of strategic significance to the Russian state”.
“We’ll make it not possible for them to lift finance on the London capital markets,” he informed the convention. “We’ll open up the matryoshka dolls of Russian-owned corporations and Russian-owned entities to search out the last word beneficiaries inside.”
Different leaders appealed to Russia to step again from the brink.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, stated Russia’s try to show Kyiv’s attainable membership of Nato right into a “casus belli” was a “paradox” as a result of the problem was not on the west’s agenda.
Further reporting by Philip Georgiadis and Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe in London, and James Politi in Washington.
