Pro-Russian separatist leader orders full military mobilization in Ukraine's Donetsk region
Feb 19, 2022
Donetsk (Ukraine), February 19 : A separatist leader in Ukraine ordered a full military mobilisation on Saturday amid ongoing tension between Moscow and Kiev, according to media report.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russian separatist government in the Donetsk region has signed a decree on general mobilization.
"The People's Council of the DPR has approved the decree of the head of the DPR on general mobilization," Sputnik News Agency reported citing a council member Vladislav Berdichevsky.
Russia's recent build-up of around 150,000 troops just over the border from the Donbas region in the east, in Belarus to the north and Crimea to the south, which began in the autumn, has escalated tensions.
Russia claims the surge of forces has always been for military exercises and that it poses no threat to Ukraine or any other nation, but has refused to offer any real explanation for the biggest build-up of military might in Europe since the Cold War.
The US Embassy in Kiev informed on Thursday that Russia's shelling of Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in Donbas hit a kindergarten, injured two teachers, and knocked out power in the village.
"Russia's shelling of Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in Donbas hit a kindergarten, injured two teachers, and knocked out power in the village. The aggressor in Donbas is clear - Russia," tweeted US Embassy in Kiev.
Meanwhile, the Russian Emergencies Ministry told Sputnik today that Rostov Region has opened 15 border crossings for refugees from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
Defence officials in Moscow have said since Tuesday that troops and military hardware are pulling back, having completed some of the drills. Western intelligence officials say, on the contrary, that Russia has moved roughly 7,000 more troops close to the borders in recent days.
