Ukraine denies offensive in Donbas, but rebels announce general mobilization

Ukraine today denied a possible military offensive against the militias prorussian in the east of the country, Donbas, but the separatist leaders announced the general mobilization of all older men.

A delegation of senior government officials and pro-government deputies went to the front to lift the spirits of the troops, to whom they supplied drones, but also to show that Kiev has no plans to recover the occupied territories in Donetsk and Lugansk by force.

The heavy weapons attacks continued for the third consecutive day. Both sides accused each other of targeting population centers on both sides of the line of separation of forces and of using weapons prohibited by the Minsk Peace Agreements.

COMBAT ZAFARRANCHO IN THE DONBÁS

Two Ukrainian soldiers died of shrapnel wounds after rebel attacks with artillery pieces, mortar and grenade launchers, while a civilian was wounded on the other side of the front.

In addition, the Minister of the Interior, Denis Monastirski, and a group of foreign reporters had to seek refuge after being attacked while inspecting an area near the front.

The authorities of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk also denounced numerous violations of the ceasefire by Kiev, which Moscow accused of genocide of the pro-Russian population.

One of the bombardments with mortar shells reached the suburbs of Donetsk, according to the separatists, who also denounced subversive actions against civilian infrastructure.

The Russian Instruction Committee opened a criminal case after the discovery of shells in the Rostov region, an alleged attack that Ukraine hastened to categorically deny.

The secretary of the Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council, Oleksii Danilov, was also sent to Donbas, who accused the Kremlin of causing “panic” among the population of Donbas by denouncing an imminent attack in order to justify an invasion.

PRO-RUSSIAN GENERAL MOBILIZATION

The separatists, whose forces are estimated at about 30,000 men, announced this morning the general mobilization of the male population.

“I am addressing all the men in the republic who can carry a weapon so that they come to defend their families,” said Denis Pushilin, a separatist leader in Donetsk, in a television intervention.

Its leaders went to companies and factories so that all the adults present themselves at their military garrisons to receive orders, something that several thousand people have already done.

Men between the ages of 18 and 55 are prohibited from leaving the territory of the people’s republics.

The mobilization comes after both breakaway republics announced on Friday the massive evacuation of the civilian population to Russia.

Ukrainian media denounced that these televised announcements were prepared and canned before the upsurge of hostilities in Donbas, and that both the evacuation and the mobilization are a mere propaganda maneuver.

TENSE EVACUATION TO RUSSIA

In order to facilitate the evacuation, the Donetsk authorities suspended municipal road transport in order to dedicate these buses and minibuses to transport women, children and the elderly to Russia.

It is estimated that some 700,000 people will be transferred to Russian territory, more or less the same number of inhabitants of Donbas who have received Russian citizenship in recent years.

As a reaction to the pro-Russian evacuation, the Ukrainian authorities have directed the inhabitants of the areas controlled by the separatists to cross to the other side through the crossings enabled for this purpose.

“Ukraine is not the enemy for the peaceful population, as it is our people. The enemy is the Russian occupier,” said Irina Vereschuk, Ukrainian deputy prime minister, who also traveled to Donbas today.

The Ukrainian government assured that, if necessary, it can open humanitarian corridors, while international organizations have requested urgent help for the more than two million people who live in the vicinity of the front.

SECURITY GUARANTEES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Munich, where he called for a UN Security Council meeting with the participation of Europe, Germany and Turkey to address the current security crisis on the continent.

Zelensky warned that Kiev intends to denounce the Budapest Memorandum, which in 1994 gave Ukraine security guarantees in exchange for giving up the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal, inherited from the former Soviet Union.

“Ukraine longs for peace. Europe longs for peace. Russia says it does not want to attack. Someone is lying,” said Zelensky, who demanded such guarantees as long as his country does not join NATO.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted today that Ukraine’s entry is not on the Alliance’s agenda, for which he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using unfounded arguments to unleash a global crisis.

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