Joe Biden released statements from Friday night to Saturday, saying he firmly believed that Vladimir Putin would attack Ukraine. The details came hours after dozens of buses carrying civilians from Ukraine arrived in Russia.
Read the latest information on the Ukraine crisis:
Update 09.11 More than 6.6 thousand people were evacuated from Donetsk.
“As of 06:30 (5:30) on February 19, 2022, the number of evictees was 6,603, of whom 2,436 were children,” he told the DPR’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. Isvestia.
Update 09.05 Russia’s Orenburg region has announced its readiness to receive refugees.
“The Orenburg region is ready to receive residents of the Donetsk and Lukansk People’s Republics. There is nothing we can do when so many women, children and the elderly are in danger. We are talking about the lives of the people, so there can be no other solution,” said the governor of the region Denis Pasler. IsvestiaCiting RIA Novosti.
Update 08.58 Details of the mobilization call made by the President of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Bushil will appear.
He urged the citizens of the reserve to come and join. “We will protect Donbass and all Russians,” Bushillin said in a video message on his Telegram channel. Isvestia.
“Today I have signed a general mobilization order. I urge all men in the country to support their families, children, wives and mothers in arms,” he said.
Update 08.54 Representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) claim that the Ukrainian armed forces carried out a bomb attack on the village of Sakanga in Donetsk. Isvestia.
Update 08.50 Ahead of Sunday’s talks with Putin, it has been reported that Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with Volodymyr Zhelensky on Saturday. Pravda.
Update 08.41 The Ukrainian separatist leader announced a “general mobilization” in the Donetsk region AFP.
Update 08.37 Russia on Saturday denied US allegations that it was behind a cyber attack on a Ukrainian bank and government website.
The Russian embassy in Washington wrote on Twitter: “We categorically reject these unsubstantiated statements by the administration and note that Russia has no involvement with the specified events and has not taken any malicious action in principle.”
Update 08.27 Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order calling on all Reserve citizens to undergo military training. This document was released on Friday night Toss And this is a one-year mandate.
“In 2022, citizens of the Russian Federation who hold reserves for military training in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, state security agencies and the Federal Security Agency are invited.”
It should be noted that the military training of Russians in the reserve area is a planned operation that takes place annually.
Update 07.51 Russia’s Rostov region has received 5 billion rubles in aid for refugees in the Donbass region, according to Izvestia’s Telegram channel.
Update 07.30 Observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Saturday that there had been a “surprising increase” in ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have been in conflict since 2014.
The OSCE said in a statement that there were still as many incidents as there were before the agreement signed in July 2020 to coordinate the ceasefire.
On Thursday, the OSCE declared 222 ceasefire violations in the front line of the Donetsk region under the control of pro-Russian separatists, including 135 “explosions”, which were 189 on Wednesday and Tuesday.
In the Lukansk region, another city in eastern Ukraine, controlled by pro-Russian separatists, the organization detected 648 violations, including 519 “explosions” on Wednesday, 402 and 129 on Tuesday.
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“I firmly believe that Vladimir Putin has decided to invade UkraineJoe Biden said this after the last round of talks with NATO leaders, including President Klaus Iohanis.
The U.S. president has said the attack could take place in a few days. Despite these hopes, he says it is not too late to resolve the crisis through diplomatic channels.
Meanwhile, tensions are rising in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lukansk following the Kremlin’s request for refugees to return to Russia. Ukraine’s military intelligence services say the Russians have cut infrastructure targets in the region.
Joe Biden: “We have reason to believe that Russian forces are planning to invade Ukraine next week. We hope they will target Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, with a population of 2.8 million. We reiterate Russia’s plans, not because we want a conflict, but because we are doing everything we can to eliminate any reason that could provoke Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia may still choose diplomacy, Biden added. The U.S. president recalled on Friday that Russia had agreed to a new meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Negotiations are scheduled for February 24.
Joe Biden: “But if Russia decides to attack by then, it means that the door to diplomacy has been reached. This means that (the Russians) will choose war and pay a high price for it, not only because of the sanctions that we and our allies impose, but because of the anger they will raise around the world.”
Macron will speak with Putin on Sunday
And French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that he would talk to Putin on the phone as a new attempt to avoid … “What’s worse.”
Macron: “We call for a halt to the military action and a call for a speedy reversal.
Our President also attended small-scale consultations between Biden, Allied leaders and heads of European institutions. Glass Iohanis stressed the importance of finalizing the set of sanctions imposed on Russia in the event of an invasion..
Meanwhile, the situation in separatist regions is escalating. Russian-backed separatists controlling the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine have begun evacuating civilians to Russia as artillery fire intensifies. The Ukrainian military and separatists are blaming each other, and from Friday night to Saturday the line of cars and buses stretched more than 20 kilometers to the exit to Russia.
Moreover, according to the Moscow press, Putin ordered the stay of those leaving the separatist republics. Each will receive 10,000 rubles or more than 100 euros.
Vladimir Putin: “We have seen the worsening situation in eastern Ukraine.
The expulsion is seen by US diplomats as a “cynical maneuver” by which they are used to divert civilians from preparing for an attack.
Anthony Blingen: “The events of the last 24-48 hours have been part of the situation, creating false challenges, then responding to these challenges and finally making a new aggression against Ukraine.”
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of arranging diversions in both regions to provoke the Ukrainian military.
Oleksi Danilov, Secretary of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine: “According to our information, the Russian people on the ground will provoke various actions. He can do things that have nothing to do with our military.
The Ukrainian official stressed that his country had no plans to forcibly liberate territories held by separatists.
Olekshi Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Security Council of Ukraine: “We understand that we can only negotiate with Russia, and we can only negotiate with people who are not independent and do not make independent decisions. All decisions are made only in Moscow.
Also Ukraine’s military intelligence services announced that the Russians would bomb several targets in Donetsk. Following the announcement, the Moscow press reported An international oil pipeline explodes in Lugansk. Pictures of the fireball in the area immediately appeared on the internet.
Talks on Ukraine continue at talks at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, also known as “Davos for security”, where Russia has no delegates for the first time.
Fiona Hill, former NSC Senior Director for Europe and Russia: “In Russia’s view, Ukraine has no right to an independent foreign and security policy.
On Saturday, Vladimir Putin will personally oversee the annual strategic exercises in Crimea, including ballistic and cruise missiles designed to simulate a nuclear attack.
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