The situation in Eastern Ukraine is deplorable, with explosions, evacuations of areas and continuous clashes between Moscow and Kiev.
Gunfire has been heard in the central, northern and western parts of Donetsk, the largest city in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, since dawn, according to a Russian TASS correspondent on the ground.
According to the agency, heavy artillery is being used against the city and the attack is ongoing.
Earlier, pro-Russian separatist authorities spoke of Ukrainian army shelling of several communities in the Democratic Republic of Danetsk.
Authorities in the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Danetsk and Luhansk have been talking about the heaviest bombardment by Ukrainian artillery for months and heavy damage to political infrastructure.
The mobilization of Russian-speaking separatists resulted in a “red alert” in Kiev.
According to the Ukrainian authorities two soldiers have been killed so far while four have been injured in the bombings..
Militants have arrived in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine to carry out provocations in cooperation with Russia’s secret services, the Ukrainian military said today.
At the same time, the Ukrainian security forces are talking about 70 violations so far, in 60 of which “weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements” were used.
For their part, the forces of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk accused the Ukrainian army of violating the ceasefire and bombing settlements.
In another incident, mortar shells landed near the Ukrainian Interior Minister’s tour, accompanied by Ukrainian lawmakers, on the front line in the east of the country, according to AFP reporters.
The incident, in which no one was injured, took place in the greater Donetsk region.
In addition, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Zhelensky’s party said a group of lawmakers and foreign journalists visiting the war zone in eastern Ukraine had come under fire and had to be taken to a shelter.
The spokeswoman did not provide further details.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw nuclear weapons exercises from the Kremlin operations center.together with his close ally, his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. Russia fired ballistic and cruise missiles at Cruz, both at sea and on land, as part of a strategic nuclear exercise overseen by the two men.
In any case, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has confirmed that he will meet again with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on February 24 in an interview with Dozhd TV, which is listed in Russia. of “foreign agents”.
The US diplomat reiterated that Washington was ready to “respond” to Russian aggression if necessary, but assured that its goal was to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Blinken also said it would be a disaster if Kiev, a city of 3,000,000, was attacked. However, he estimated that there would be losses among the Russian troops, as the Ukrainians are not willing to welcome the Russian forces.
In any case, Russia insists on its position on the Donbass genocide. Responding to criticism from German Chancellor Olaf Soltz, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said evidence of mass graves would be sent.
Earlier, Solz said the term genocide was not appropriate to describe the situation in Donbass and called such statements ridiculous.
Biden will convene an emergency meeting of the National Security Council
Meanwhile, the White House continues to believe that Russia can launch an attack on Ukraine at any time.
According to the spokeswoman for the US presidency, Jen Psaki, Joe Biden will convene an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council today, during which the latest developments in Ukraine will be discussed.
“President Biden continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine and to be constantly informed of developments on the ground by the national security team.”
“Russia could launch an attack on Ukraine at any time.”
According to Jen Psaki, President Biden was briefed on the results of contacts between Vice President Kamala Harris and the President of Ukraine, the President of the European Commission, the Secretary General of NATO, the leaders of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia). , Lithuania), the Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the leaders of other allied states and partners. The US Vice President held these meetings on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
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