Flare of fever in Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of accumulating troops on the border of his country, Washington warning Moscow against any attempt at "
intimidation
" against Ukraine.
While Ukrainian and American officials have reported in recent days of Russian troop movements near the Ukrainian border, the Kremlin stressed that Russia is moving its troops as it sees fit, but asserted that Kiev and the West should not. not "
worry
" about these movements.
Read also: Donbass, the endless conflict
"
The show of force in the form of military exercises and possible provocations along the border is the traditional occupation of Russia,
" the Ukrainian president denounced in a statement.
Moscow "
tries to create a threatening atmosphere and to put pressure
" on Ukraine, he continued while calling for a new truce on the front line with the pro-Russian separatists, of which Russia is considered as the military support .
American warning
For his part, the spokesman for American diplomacy Ned Price warned Moscow against "
any aggressive act aimed at intimidating or threatening
" Ukraine, saying he was "
concerned
" by the "
recent escalations of aggressive and provocative acts
”by Russia.
To read also: In the Donbass, a timid hope, on the bridge of Stanytsia Louhanska
After a record truce in the second half of 2020, the war in eastern Ukraine has seen an increase in clashes since January.
Both sides blame each other for the escalation.
Twenty Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 57 wounded since the start of the year, President Zelensky said Thursday, as Kiev reported 50 soldiers killed in the whole of 2020. A soldier was wounded again on Thursday, according to the 'army.
Ukrainian military intelligence accused him Thursday, April 1, Moscow of preparing "
the entry
" of its "
regular armed forces
" into the separatist territories "
on the grounds of protecting
" the inhabitants, to whom Russia has distributed hundreds of thousands of his passports.
Russian troops could "
try to penetrate further into Ukrainian territory
," added the service.
Concern in the West
"
The Russians are working on the compatibility of their army
" with the separatist troops, affirmed a senior Ukrainian official on condition of anonymity: "
Their military units will be ready to attack from mid-April
".
An official of the Ukrainian presidency, Roman Machovets, suggested during a meeting with the NATO representative in Ukraine to organize military maneuvers and joint air patrols to "
stabilize the situation in the region
".
To read also: "Donbass: Paris can convince Putin to conclude an agreement"
Witnessing the growing concern of the West, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin phoned his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Tara on Thursday and Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kouleba spoke with his Canadian counterpart Marc Garneau.
The day before, the chief of staff of the American armies, General Mark Milley, had already spoken with the Russian chief of staff Valéri Guérassimov, and with the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Rouslan Khomtchak.
The latter denounced Tuesday "
a threat to
Ukrainian
military security
", asserting that the separatists numbered 28,000 combatants and "
more than 2,000
Russian
military instructors and advisers
".
Moscow, which blames the outbreak of violence in eastern Ukraine on the Kiev authorities, has always denied having had any men or weapons on the ground.
The Pentagon for its part indicated this week that American forces in Europe had been placed in phase of reinforced surveillance against a "
potential imminent crisis
" and that the United States had raised the tensions in Ukraine with its NATO partners.
The war in Ukraine, which claimed more than 13,000 lives, began in 2014 after pro-Westerners came to power in Kiev, which was followed by Moscow's annexation of Crimea.