Fear of new war as Putin sends tanks to Ukraine
DOMINIC RAAB called on Russia to ‘immediately de-escalate’ tension with Ukraine as troops began massing at the border in the biggest military build-up since the conflict began in 2014.
The foreign secretary spoke out after Moscow prompted fears of an invasion by ordering thousands of mortars, tanks, armoured vehicles and missile trucks to Crimea and the disputed Donbass region, held by Russian separatists.
Responding to the latest threat from Vladimir Putin’s regime, Washington has ordered two warships to head towards the Black Sea as Mr Raab held talks with his US opposite number Antony Blinken.
‘Secretary Blinken and I agreed Russia must immediately de-escalate the situation and live up to the international commitments that it signed up to,’ Mr Raab tweeted, describing the military build-up as a ‘campaign to destabilise Ukraine’.
A Ukrainian soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russia-backed separatists yesterday, bringing to 27 the number killed this year. Kiev claims Moscow has sent 85,000 troops to Crimea which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Among weapons arriving at the border are six Tyulpan ‘city-destroyer’ self-propelled mortars which were used widely in Afghanistan and Chechnya and are capable of firing missiles for 12 miles.
Russia warned Ukraine against sending troops into the Donbass region, scorning them as ‘children playing with matches’.
‘The situation extremely unstable,’ said a spokesman for Mr Putin (pictured). ‘The dynamics of the development of this state of affairs, and the behaviour of the Ukrainian side, creates the danger of a resumption of full-scale hostilities.’ Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been trying to mediate a settlement after speaking to Mr Putin and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. ‘We want both countries to resolve their disagreements through negotiations,’ he said.