Shelling hits eastern Ukraine amid escalating fears of Russian invasion
20 February 2022, 10:54
The country is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment.
Hundreds of artillery shells have exploded along the contact line between Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists, and thousands of people evacuated eastern Ukraine, further increasing fears that the volatile region could see a Russian invasion.
Western leaders have warned that Russia is poised to attack its neighbour, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment.
Russia held nuclear drills on Saturday in neighbouring Belarus and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.
The United States and many European countries have alleged for months that Russia is trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive, immediate sanctions if it does.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Vladimir Putin to meet him for talks amid the escalating crisis.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Zelenskyy stressed the need for a peaceful resolution, and said the Russian president could pick the location for the meeting.
He said: “I don’t know what the president of the Russian Federation wants, so I am proposing a meeting.
“Ukraine will continue to follow only the diplomatic path for the sake of a peaceful settlement.”
There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.
On Sunday, European Council president Charles Michel said the question on whether the Kremlin wants dialogue remains unanswered.
He said: “We cannot forever offer an olive branch while Russia conducts missile tests and continues to amass troops.
“One thing is certain: if there is further military aggression, we will react with massive sanctions.”
Germany and Austria have told their citizens to leave Ukraine. German air carrier Lufthansa cancelled flights to the capital Kyiv and to Odessa, a Black Sea port that could be a key target in an invasion.
Nato’s liaison office in Kyiv said it is relocating staff to Brussels and to the western Ukraine city of Lviv.
Meanwhile, top Ukrainian military officials came under a shelling attack during a tour of the front of the nearly eight-year separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.
The officials fled to a bomb shelter before hustling from the area, according to an Associated Press journalist who was on the tour.
Violence in eastern Ukraine has spiked in recent days as Ukraine and the two regions held by the rebels each accused the other of escalation.
Russia on Saturday said at least two shells fired from a government-held part of eastern Ukraine landed across the border, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed that claim as “a fake statement”.
Sporadic violence has broken out for years along the line separating Ukrainian forces from the Russia-backed rebels, but the recent shelling and bombing spike could set off a full-scale war.
