Kiev and Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern district of Lugansk traded allegations of an escalation in fighting on Thursday, after the US claimed Moscow was seeking a pretext to invade.
Ukraine has been in conflict with pro-Moscow rebels in the east of the country since 2014, in a war that has cost thousands of lives, but the latest reports risk intensifying fears of Russian intervention.
The Ukrainian military’s command centre in the east alleged that Russian-backed forces had, “with special cynicism”, fired heavy artillery at the village of Stanytsia-Luganska.
“The shells hit a kindergarten,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}“The shells hit a kindergarten,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}“According to preliminary data two civilians were injured. Public infrastructure was also damaged. Half of the settlement was left without electricity.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba did not mention any injuries but condemned the alleged shelling.
“We call on all partners to swiftly condemn this severe violation of (the) Minsk agreements by Russia amid an already tense security situation,” he said.
The Minsk agreements are international ceasefire accords agreed in 2014 and 2015, aimed at halting the war. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter he had informed the EU’s chief diplomat, Charles Michel, about the “provocative shelling”.
The Ukrainian army recorded what it said were 29 breaches of the ceasefire overnight, 27 of them using heavy weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, and more than double the recent average number of attacks.
Photographs on the command centre’s Facebook account showed civilians sheltering in a cellar and a kindergarten playroom with rubble strewn on the floor and a shell hole in the wall.
Separately, Russian news agencies reported that the pro-Moscow separatist force in Lugansk had accused Ukraine of escalating fighting.
“Over the past 24 hours, the situation on the line of contact has escalated significantly,” Yan Leshchenko, head of the People’s Militia in the self-declared Lugansk republic, told reporters.
“The enemy, on the direct orders of the Kiev military-political leadership, is making attempts to escalate the conflict.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the allegation of a Ukrainian escalation as “disturbing”.
“This is a matter of very deep concern,” he said.
“We hope that our opponents from Western capitals, from Washington, from Nato, will use all their influence to warn the Kiev authorities against further escalation.”
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia has deployed a huge potential invasion force on Ukraine’s borders. US intelligence has accused Moscow of seeking to create a pretext by faking an atrocity.
UK’s Truss: China should put pressure on Russia
British foreign minister Liz Truss called on China to put pressure on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, saying its support of the Kremlin was inconsistent its non-interference policy and any hopes of being seen as a responsible global actor.
“China is not the same as Russia. They claim a policy of non-interference. That’s why it’s surprising to see China’s leaders aligning themselves with the Kremlin,” Truss said in a speech in Kiev on Thursday.
Truss cited China’s decision not to object to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, Beijing’s opinions on who should have Nato membership and its resistance to discussion of the Ukraine crisis at the UN Security Council last month. “If China wants to be seen as a responsible global actor, they should be doing everything possible to ensure that Russia steps back,” Truss said. “The world is watching to see whether their actions contribute to peace and stability or to fuelling aggression.”
Ukraine-Russia war ‘in no one’s interest’: Brazil
A war between Ukraine and Russia is “in no one’s interest”, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday in Budapest, arriving from Moscow where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
Bolsonaro said after meeting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that they shared a common stance on a number of issues, including “a fight for the protection of families”.