Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday put military forces in central Russia on combat alert and called a drill of airborne troops, a day after Ukraine ordered a ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels.
NATO said earlier this week that Russia has resumed a military buildup on its border with Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting Ukrainian government forces for weeks in a conflict that has left about 300 people dead and displaced more than 34,000.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered his forces to cease fire on Friday and halt military operations for a week, the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting. The Kremlin dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.
Photo: AFP
US President Barack Obama, French counterpart Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the unilateral ceasefire announcement, while warning of further possible steps to “impose costs on Russia” if it fails to de-escalate the situation, the White House said.
Obama spoke separately with Merkel and Hollande on Friday and the three leaders stressed the need for Russia to pull back its “destabilizing presence” from the border, a White House official added.
The combat alert in the central military district, which encompasses the Volga region and the Ural Mountains, but not western Russia, will last until next Saturday, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying.
About 65,000 troops will take part in military drills accompanying the combat alert, Russian General Staff head General Valery Gerasimov said, including several thousand troops of an airborne division who will be moved from a city 200km east of Moscow where they are stationed to the Ural Mountains.
Russia’s combat alert was ordered on the first day of the ceasefire in Ukraine, which was nonetheless marked by more fighting along the border.
The Ukrainian Border Guard Service reported overnight attacks on two border posts in the Donetsk region, which left three troops injured, hours after the ceasefire was announced. One of the posts, Vyselky, was attacked with mortar and sniper fire for half an hour, the border guards said.
An attack on another border post, Izvaryne, immediately before the ceasefire left six men injured, the border guard service said.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported two attacks on the quarters of a missile unit in the village of Avdiyivka. Kiev said men armed with automatic rifles and grenade launchers attacked the base at 11pm — one hour after the ceasefire was announced — prompting the army to respond.
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