Ukraine braces for war as West sticks to talk

Photo: REUTERS Kiev calls up reserves, potentially all men up to 40, write Natalia Zinets and Alissa de Carbonnel. Ukraine mobilised for war yesterday and the United States threatened to isolate Russia economically after President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbour in Moscow’s biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War.

‘‘This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country,’’ Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said. Yatsenuik heads a pro-Western government that took power in the former Soviet republic when its Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted last week.

Putin secured permission from his parliament on Sunday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told US President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene.

Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base.

Yesterday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, leading to standoffs, although no shots were fired.

As Western countries considered how to respond to the crisis, the US said it was focused on economic, diplomatic and political measures, but made clear it was not seriously considering military action.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Kiev today to show ‘‘strong support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future, without outside interference or provocation,’’ the State Department said.

With Russian forces in control of majority ethnic Russian Crimea, the focus is shifting to eastern swaths of Ukraine, where most ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language.

Those areas saw more demonstrations yesterday after violent protests on Sunday, and proMoscow activists hoisted flags for a second day at government buildings and called for Russia to defend them.

Russia has staged war games with 150,000 troops along the land border, but they have so far not crossed. Kiev said Russia had sent hundreds of its citizens across the border to stage the protests.

Ukraine’s security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert. But Kiev’s small and under-equipped military is seen as no match for Russia’s superpower might.

The Defence Ministry was ordered to stage a call-up of reserves, meaning theoretically all men aged up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, though Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for significant numbers of them.

Kerry condemned Russia for what he called an ‘‘incredible act of aggression’’ and brandished the threat of economic sanctions.

‘‘You just don’t, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext,’’ he said.

He said Moscow still had a ‘‘right set of choices’’ to defuse the crisis. Otherwise, G8 countries and other nations were prepared to ‘‘to go to the hilt to isolate Russia’’.

So far, the Western response has been largely symbolic.

Obama and others suspended preparations for a G8 summit in Sochi, where Russia has just finished staging its $50 billion winter Olympic games. Some countries recalled ambassadors.

Britain said its ministers would stay away from the Paralympics due to be held in Sochi from March 7.

‘‘Right now, I think we are focused on political, diplomatic and economic options,’’ a senior U.S. official said.‘‘Frankly our goal is to uphold the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, not to have a military escalation.’’

In Crimea, Ukraine’s tiny contingent made no attempt to oppose the Russians, who bore no insignia on their uniforms but drove vehicles with Russian plates and seized government buildings, airports and other locations in the past three days.

Kiev said its troops were encircled in at least three places. It pulled its coast guard boats out of Crimean ports.

Ukraine said its naval fleet’s 10 ships were still in Sevastopol and remained loyal to Kiev.