In the photo: Russian military vehicles moving toward the Ukrainian border.
The Foreign Office of Ukraine called it “the largest in recent years”.
It’s become hot again in Donbas. Ukrainian soldiers are killed. Meanwhile Russia is holding large-scale military exercises near the state border of Ukraine. On March 11, the week-long military training of commanding officers and the General Staff personnel began with the participation of combined-arms troops stationed in the Smolensk, Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Moscow regions. The drill was announced in the Russia-occupied Crimea from March 18 to 19 with the arrival of 2000 paratroopers, marines, and heliborne troops and 500 units of military equipment.
At the same time, the Russian social networking carries numerous reports on the troops, weapons and equipment being concentrated near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
According to the data provided by the General Staff of Ukraine, on March 30, Russia maintained 28 battalion tactical groups along the border with Ukraine. Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Gen Ruslan Khomchak told the Ukrainian parliament that the enemy is expected to draw up additional 25 battalion tactical groups and deploy them near Ukraine’s borders under the pretext of conducting military exercises.
The Ukrainian intelligence service does not rule out a possibility that Russian troops might move even deeper into the territory of Ukraine.
On April 1, a Ukrainian journalist asked Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov to comment on the build-up of Russian military presence on the border with Ukraine and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. “The Russian Federation transfers the Armed Forces on its soil as it wants to. This should not concern anyone and this is not posing any threat to anyone,” Peskov replied.
The current build-up of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine does not automatically mean that the Russian Federation is going to launch a new operation. That was an opinion of Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the ex-commanding officer of U.S. troops in Europe. The general told Voice of America, “This is their design to create uncertainty, to destabilize Ukraine and have their levers. And of course, I’d say, Russia’s acts are a test for the Joe Biden Administration, a test for the new President of the United States”.
In the opinion of many analysts, the White House has begun to respond to the Russian challenge. Amid the apparent new threats from Russia and the new escalation in Donbas, General Tod Wolters, the commander of the U.S. European Command,, has raised the American military’s watch level from “possible crisis” to “potential imminent crisis” (the highest level).
On April 1, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Taran. According to the Ukrainian party, Defense Secretary Austin stressed that in case of the further escalation the United States would not leave Ukraine alone and would not permit the Russian Federation to realize their aggressive aspirations concerning Ukraine.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price announced that the United States is very concerned over the recent escalation in Russian aggressive and provocative actions in Eastern Ukraine. In his words, the United States is aware of the movements of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine and calls on the Kremlin “to refrain from aggressive actions and intimidating Ukraine”.
On the same day, two more important events took place which shows that Ukraine can count on the West’s effective support of Ukraine in the face of the Kremlin’s military blackmailing. The North Atlantic Alliance expressed deep concern over the fact that Russia rapidly increases its troops near Ukraine’s borders. In the opinion of NATO, Moscow is responsible for the worsening of the situation in Donbas. Reuters News Agency said this referring to the statement made by NATO’s spokesperson following the summit meeting of the ambassadors of the Alliance member-countries that took place on April 1.
On the same day, Defense Minister of Ukraine Taran had a meeting with defense attaches of the United States, Canada and Great Britain. The foreign diplomats stressed, “We stand with Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity and are watching the situation in Ukraine closely”.
According to the statement made by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current escalation in tension in Donbas and military maneuvers of the Kremlin near the borders of Ukraine have resulted from the recent sanctions against the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, particularly against politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Also, the firm position of the Ukrainian leaders regarding the country’s independence and the support of Western partners are a powerful factor that could not be ignored by the enemy.
The President of Ukraine believes that the build-up of the Russian military presence on the borders of Ukraine is nothing else but a muscle-flexing, an attempt to create an atmosphere of threats and exert pressure during negotiations on ceasefire. But despite all this, he stressed, “we will not stop and will continue negotiating a truce as the immediate tactical step. Our strategy is to reach peace by all means and return our people and territories”.
The newspaper Voice of Ukraine
