Donetsk/Ukraine/Moscow - President Vladimir Putin launched exercises by massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces, a stark reminder of the country’s nuclear might on Saturday and Washington said Russian troops massed near Ukraine's border were moving forward and "poised to strike".
Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and four injured by shelling on Saturday, the first deaths to be reported in weeks reported BBC.
Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization Saturday amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears in the West that Russia might use the strife as a pretext for an invasion.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russia separatist government in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, released a statement announcing a full troop mobilization and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices.
Civilians evacuated
On Friday, the rebels began evacuating civilians from the conflict zone with an announcement that appeared to be part of their and Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor instead.
Russian news agencies said 10,000 evacuees had arrived so far in Russia. The separatist authorities say they aim to evacuate 700,000 people.
Russian military build-up
With Western nations fearing what could be one of the worst conflicts since the Cold War, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were beginning to "uncoil and move closer" to the border with its former Soviet neighbour.
Russia's build-up of military personnel threatening Ukraine probably totals up to 190,000, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement to an OSCE meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Friday.
"We assess that Russia probably has massed between 169,000-190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine as compared with about 100,000 on January 30," Michael Carpenter told the meeting, which Russia did not attend.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “in response to Russia’s pattern of aggressive actions, we have been strengthening our deterrence and defense across the alliance to avoid any miscalculation or misunderstanding about our ironclad commitment to defend each other.”
“So, if the Kremlin’s aim is to have less NATO on its borders, it will only get more NATO. And if it wants to divide NATO, it will only get an even more united alliance.”
At the same time, Stoltenberg insisted that NATO was a defensive alliance “not threatening Russia or anyone else.”
"This is the most significant military mobilization in Europe since the Second World War."
-Reuters/AP/BBC