| Translate This News In |
|---|
On Saturday, Ukraine’s military forces accused Moscow-backed insurgents of beginning a massive new wave of attacks, fueling fears of a Russian invasion of its western neighbour.
By 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), the unified military command for east Ukraine had reported 66 exchanges of fire, a significant number compared to recent phases of the fighting, while the rebels described the situation as “serious.”
According to the statement, rebels have resorted to employing illegal 82 and 120 millimetre-calibre mortar bombs in towns along the front line in Lugansk and Donetsk’s eastern districts.
“As a result of the enemy’s attacks, there have been no losses among members of the armed forces,” it stated.
“The military forces maintain control of the situation and continue to carry out their task of rebuffing and containing the Russian Federation’s armed aggression.”
Moscow formally rejects involvement in the crisis, referring to it as “internal issues” of Ukraine.
Throughout the eight-year war, however, observers from the OSCE European security body have observed frequent transfers of Russian weapons across the border.
In its latest report, released on Friday, the OSCE documented a total of 870 ceasefire violations across the combat zone, referring to incidents that occurred on Thursday.
“The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) has noticed a major rise in kinetic activity along the contact line in eastern Ukraine in recent days,” according to a statement from the OSCE.
Rebel commanders claim that the Ukrainian military is attempting to seize their two breakaway territories by force, which Kyiv rejects.
On Saturday, the rebel leadership in Donetsk declared the situation “serious” and called for a “wide mobilisation.”
About an hour later, the leader of the tiny rebel Lugansk area did the same.
