Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) awards a soldier in a trench as he visits the war-hit Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
Ukrainian soldier sits on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Debaltsevo, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photo: AP Photo/Andriy Dubchak
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Ukrainian authorities said yesterday that Russia was sending tanks and snipers to the line of contact in war-torn eastern Ukraine to “provoke return fire”.
The claim comes amid fears that a Russian troop build-up near the Ukrainian border might indicate plans for an invasion.
Ukraine’s defence ministry released the statement just hours before a long-anticipated video call between US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders were expected to discuss tensions over Ukraine.
The ministry alleged in the statement that Russia was holding “training camps under the leadership of regular servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces” and “reinforcing units near the contact line ... with additional 122mm self-propelled artillery vehicles, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles”, as well as increasing the number of sniper teams in the area.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the allegations yesterday.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter tug-of-war since 2014, when Moscow annexed the peninsula of Crimea and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
The fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels has since killed more than 14,000 people.
Ukraine and the West accused Russia of sending its troops and weapons to back the separatists, which Moscow has repeatedly denied, with the Kremlin insisting that Russia is not a party to the conflict.
Tensions have reignited again this year amid reports of a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine’s border, which Ukrainian and Western officials feared could indicate Moscow’s plan to invade its ex-Soviet neighbour.
US intelligence officials have determined that Russia has massed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as early as next year.
Moscow has denied plans to attack Ukraine and in turn blamed Ukraine for its own military build-up in the war-torn east, alleging that Kiev might try to reclaim the areas controlled by the rebels by force.
Mr Putin has urged the West to provide guarantees that would preclude Nato from expanding to Ukraine.