Kyiv pleads with Russian public to protest

Zelensky declares state of emergency and calls up Ukrainian reserves in preparation of full invasion

‘This is a grim scenario that will throw us back to the darkest time of the 20th century. Russia will not stop at Ukraine’

‘They didn’t call me in, I showed up myself. I’m going to protect my grandsons – I have three’

THE Ukrainian president last night addressed the Russian people pleading for them to protest against an attack that could spark “a major war in Europe”.

The request came after the leaders of Ukraine’s two separatist regions asked Vladimir Putin for help fighting Kyiv’s military “aggression”, according to the Kremlin, as the United States warned that an invasion was “imminent”.

Speaking in Russian, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said: “Almost 200,000 of your troops and thousands of military vehicles are standing alongside [our border]. Your leadership has ordered them to move forward, on to another country’s territory. This step could be the start of a big war on the European continent. The whole world is talking about what could happen any day now.

“Any provocation. Any flare-up – one that could burn everything. They’re telling you that this flame will liberate the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free. They remember their past and are building their future.

“Lots of you have relatives in Ukraine, you studied in Ukrainian universities, you have Ukrainian friends. You know our character, our principles, what matters to us. Listen to yourselves, to the voice of reason. The people of Ukraine want peace.”

Kyiv warned that it had intelligence of a major “false flag” operation planned at a chemical plant in Crimea, which has been evacuated as a precaution.

Ukraine last night called up 200,000 reservists as the country braced itself for a full-scale invasion by Russia that could be launched as early as today.

Mr Zelensky announced a state of emergency with martial law due to follow while Russia shut down its embassy in Kyiv and ordered its citizens out of the country ahead of what Western officials now believe is an inevitable onslaught.

The tone in Ukraine shifted markedly yesterday, with the country putting itself on a war footing after weeks playing down the threat of invasion.

Russia stepped up its cyber attacks on Ukraine, shutting down the websites of the foreign ministry, state security service and parliament.

A newly discovered piece of data-wiping software found circulating in Ukraine has hit “hundreds” of computers, researchers at the cyber-security firm ESET said yesterday. An attack which it said had probably been in the works for a couple of months.

Analysts believe that cyber attacks on critical infrastructure are a precursor to an invasion with Moscow trying to disrupt Ukraine’s links to the outside world and its internal communications.

Meanwhile, a US defence official last night briefed reporters that Mr Putin, the Russian president, had assembled “near 100 per cent of the forces” that it is thought took him to the threshold necessary to fire the starting gun on the invasion. “He is as ready as he can be,” the official said. “Whether they actually go or not is really up to Mr Putin. They could go at any hour now.”

Boris Johnson said Britain is shipping “lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons” to Kyiv in the hope of avoiding what threatens to be the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War.

The United Nations was warned by the United States yesterday that a war could displace up to five million people, sparking a refugee crisis, while Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said such a conflict would mark “the end of the world order as we know it”.

Mr Kuleba added: “This is a grim scenario that will throw us back to the darkest time of the 20th century. Russia will not stop at Ukraine. Other actors will be inspired by him.”

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretarygeneral, said: “Our world is facing a moment of peril” and added: “If the conflict in Ukraine expands, the world could see a scale and severity of need unseen for many years,”

Mr Putin continued to insist Russia was open to dialogue although in a video statement released yesterday to congratulate the military on Defender’s Day, a national holiday, he accused Nato of “heightened activity” and bragged about “weapons unrivalled anywhere else in the world”.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the selfproclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said he favoured continued dialogue but warned that his Russian separatist enclave had accelerated mobilisation of forces.

On the streets of Kyiv yesterday, Ukrainian reservists bade grim farewells to their partners after being summoned to the front lines. Mr Zelensky said reservists aged 18 to 60 would receive recalls to their units, with many braced to once again battle Russian soldiers in the east following the 2014 conflict.

The state of emergency will cover all areas of the country except the Russianbacked separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and will last an initial 30 days, with an option to extend it by a further 30 days. It was set to include measures restricting travel, gathering in large numbers, curfews and the defence of key infrastructure.

The assault, according to US reports, could involve a combined attack on both eastern Ukraine, the city of Kharkiv, and the capital Kyiv.

Some Ukrainian parents were preparing for the worst by sending their children into school with stickers bearing their blood type. Cities were said to have run out of firearms as Ukrainians bought weapons with which to defend themselves. The Ukrainian parliament also voted through the first draft of a law allowing citizens to carry firearms.

With the mood darkening, locals in Kyiv remained defiant. “It’s the same feeling as 2014 … but I have much more experience and skills,” said Leonid Ostaltsev, 34, owner of a pizzeria but who was now preparing for a return to the front line. “It’s not about [feeling] good or bad. It’s about duty,” he said.