Russia’s military says it has prevented a “diversionary reconnaissance” group from breaching the border from Ukraine.
Five troops were killed in the incident, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday, which allegedly took place in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region at about 03:00 GMT.
Kyiv dismissed the allegation as “fake news”.
The exchange came hours after the Kremlin dashed hopes that top-level diplomacy aimed at easing the Ukraine crisis would be imminent, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden had appeared to agree – in principle – to talks.
Here are all the latest updates:
11 mins ago (15:11 GMT)
Russia’s Shoigu says Ukraine has built up serious forces near breakaway regions
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine had built up serious forces near breakaway regions in the east of the country and may be preparing to try and take them back by force, something Kyiv has repeatedly denied.
Shoigu accused Ukraine of stepping up shelling of the breakaway regions. Earlier on Monday, Kyiv denied responsibility after Russia said a shell fired from Ukrainian territory had completely destroyed a border guard post in Russia’s Rostov region.
27 mins ago (14:55 GMT)
Ukraine’s chief diplomat dismisses ‘diversionary reconnaissance’ claims
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has dismissed Russia’s accusations of a border breach by Ukrainian forces.
“I categorically refute Russia’s disinformation. Ukraine did not attack Donetsk, Luhansk; didn’t send saboteurs or APCs across the border; didn’t shoot Russia’s territory or checkpoint at the border; didn’t organise diversions and doesn’t plan such actions,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I demand that Russia stops its fake [news] factory,” he added.
55 mins ago (14:27 GMT)
Why don’t Ukrainians believe Biden’s ominous warnings of war?
And why has trust in Western powers declined? Find out here.
1 hour ago (14:18 GMT)
Putin says recognition of breakaway Ukraine regions needs to be considered
Putin has told Russia’s Security Council it is necessary to consider an appeal from the leaders of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine for Moscow to recognise them as independent.
The Russian leader also warned that tensions with the West over Ukraine posed a looming threat to Moscow.
“The use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with our country poses a serious, very big threat to us,” he said, adding that Moscow’s priority was “not confrontation, but security”.
1 hour ago (14:03 GMT)
Rebel republics ask Putin to recognise their independence
The leaders of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, have asked Putin to recognise them as independent.
Should Russia take that step, it could pave the way for Moscow to openly send military forces into both regions, using the argument that it is intervening as an ally to protect them against Ukraine.
2 hours ago (13:45 GMT)
Putin’s plan for Ukraine invasion ‘has begun’, UK PM’s spokesman says
The United Kingdom’s government has seen intelligence that suggests Putin has put into motion a plan for invading Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman says.
“The intelligence we are seeing suggests that Russia intends to launch an invasion and that President Putin’s plan has already begun,” the spokesman told reporters.
“We’re seeing seen elements of the Russian playbook that we would expect to see in certain situations, starting to play out in real time.”
2 hours ago (13:40 GMT)
Ukrainian official denies Russian reports of Rostov incident
Ukraine has firmly denied Moscow’s claims that Russian forces killed five Ukrainian “saboteurs” who allegedly crossed the border to stage an attack.
“Not a single one of our soldiers has crossed the border with the Russian Federation, and not a single one has been killed today,” Anton Gerashchenko, an official at Ukraine’s interior ministry, told reporters.
2 hours ago (13:11 GMT)
Russia’s Rostov allegations, Kyiv’s counter-claims mark a ‘major escalation’
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, says the alleged incident in Rostov marks a “significant” development in the crisis.
“The information we are getting about this alleged incident is coming from the Russian military itself and not the separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine,” she said.
“This means the Russians are accusing the Ukrainian military of having armoured personnel carriers on Russian soil, which the Ukrainian military has denied as ‘fake news’ … [and] so this is going to be seen as a major escalation.”
2 hours ago (13:06 GMT)
Russia says it prevented border breach from Ukraine, Kyiv calls it fake news
Russia’s military has said that troops and border guards prevented a “diversionary reconnaissance” group from breaching the country’s border from Ukrainian territory and that five people had been killed, according to reports by Russian news agencies.
Ukraine rejected the report, calling it fake news, and said no Ukrainian forces were present in the region where the incident was alleged to have taken place.
Interfax cited the Russian military as saying that Ukrainian armed vehicles had been destroyed.
3 hours ago (12:17 GMT)
Biden asked Macron to offer summit to Russian leader: French official
Biden had asked French President Emmanuel Macron to make Putin the offer of a summit, an official from the French presidency says.
“We’re slowly changing the course of things. We’re creating a diplomatic perspective the Kremlin accepts,” Reuters quoted the French presidential adviser as saying.
“He is a facilitator,” added the French presidential adviser, commenting on Macron’s role.
4 hours ago (11:43 GMT)
Lithuanian foreign minister demands additional EU sanctions on Belarus
Lithuania’s foreign minister has called on the European Union to impose additional sanctions on Belarus for hosting Russian troops, suggesting such measures could target oil and potash exports.
“We have to be very specific about the cost for the current build-up for Belarus,” Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters in Brussels, where EU foreign ministers were meeting over the Ukraine crisis.
He added the bloc could also close loopholes in the existing sanctions it has already targeted Minsk with.
4 hours ago (11:20 GMT)
Ukraine denounces Russian shelling claim as ‘fake news’
Kyiv has dismissed a claim from Moscow that Ukrainian forces had shelled and destroyed a Russian border post, denouncing it as “fake news” designed to inflame tensions.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had earlier alleged that a projectile fired from Ukraine had destroyed a border facility used by its guards.
4 hours ago (11:00 GMT)
Germany’s Scholz to hold telephone talks with Putin
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will speak with Putin by telephone later today in a further effort to ease tensions, a spokesman for Germany’s government says.
Steffen Hebestreit said the planned call “this afternoon” had been “closely coordinated” with Macron, who spoke to Putin on Sunday.
He said the talks were part of “joint diplomatic efforts” by the West to “prevent a catastrophe” in Ukraine.
4 hours ago (10:53 GMT)
‘No one can resolve our issue without us’
Ukraine’s top security official has said his country welcomes the possibility of a summit between Biden and Putin but also warned that nothing can be solved without Kyiv’s involvement.
“No one can resolve our issue without us,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told a news briefing. “Everything should happen with our participation.”
5 hours ago (10:40 GMT)
Moscow claims Ukrainian shell has destroyed a border facility
Moscow says a shell fired from Ukraine has destroyed a border facility used by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The security service said in a statement that the “unidentified projectile” had flattened the facility located about 150 metres (164 yards) from Russia’s border with Ukraine, in the country’s southwestern Rostov region.
The statement added that no one had been injured in the incident and that Russian military engineers had arrived at the scene. Video released by the FSB showed a small, apparently one-room building with its roof and walls caved in and a Russian flag leaning against strewn debris.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim.
Kyiv has battled Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since they seized a swath of territory in the region in early 2014 [File: Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo]5 hours ago (10:24 GMT)
Satellite images show new military movements by Russia
As diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions around Ukrainian continue, satellite images show new field deployments of armoured equipment and troops from Russian garrisons.
Read more here.
5 hours ago (10:21 GMT)
Ukraine-Russia crisis: What is the Minsk agreement?
Macron has pointed to the 2015 Minsk Agreement between Kyiv and Moscow as the blueprint for a breakthrough in the Ukraine crisis.
The Minsk II deal, named after the Belarusian capital where it was settled, was aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv has battled Russian-backed separatists since they seized a swath of territory in the region in early 2014.
But the agreement, which came on the back of Minsk I, an earlier failed attempt at a ceasefire pact, was never fully implemented. Years on, there has been no full political settlement and the deadly fighting in Donbas continues.
Click here to read more.
5 hours ago (10:15 GMT)
Ukraine’s military reports many ceasefire violations
Ukraine’s military says there have been 80 ceasefire violations by Russian-backed forces in conflict-hit eastern Ukraine within the past 24 hours.
The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in a statement that one soldier had been injured during an instance of shelling on Sunday which was in violation of the Minsk agreement.
“The occupation forces continue to cowardly shell positions of Ukrainian defenders from behind the civilian settlements, hiding behind civilians as behind a human shield,” JFO spokesman Pavlo Kovalchyuk said.
The JFO added there had been 94 instances of shelling on civilian settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions over the previous five days, injuring two people as well as damaging 44 homes and four schools.
6 hours ago (09:37 GMT)
Russia says 60,000 ‘refugees’ have crossed from rebel-held eastern Ukraine: Report
Russia’s emergencies ministry has said more than 60,000 “refugees” from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine have crossed into Russia following evacuation orders issued by the territories’ separatist authorities last week, the RIA Novosti news agency reports.
6 hours ago (09:24 GMT)
Separatists allege one ‘serviceman’ killed
Moscow-backed separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have alleged in a statement released to Russian news agencies that a local “serviceman” has been killed during an attack on the breakaway region by Ukrainian forces.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim, which comes after multiple warnings by top Western officials that Russia could attempt to manufacture a “pretext” for invading Ukraine.
6 hours ago (09:11 GMT)
Firm agreement on Biden-Putin meet ‘a long way away’
Al Jazeera’s Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, says Putin and Biden are “a long way away” from reaching a firm agreement on holding discussions.
“It is going to be up to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his meeting with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, on Thursday whether or not Putin and the US president will meet,” she said.
“I think the Russians are going to be very clear that in order for that meeting [between Putin and Biden] to take place, the US president has to be willing to discuss Russia’s security concerns – that NATO does not expand any further eastwards and that there is no military equipment in NATO countries around Russia.”
Putin has accused Western powers of ignoring Russia’s main security concerns [File: Thibault Camus/Pool via Reuters]6 hours ago (09:06 GMT)
No firm plans yet for Putin-Biden talks, Kremlin says
The Kremlin has said Putin and Biden could set up a call or meeting any time but there were no concrete plans yet for a summit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that although tensions were growing, diplomatic contacts were active.
But he dismissed reports that Russia had drawn up a list of Ukrainians to capture or kill after any invasion were an “absolute lie”. He also described as “highly unusual” a US embassy warning to Americans in Russia that they should prepare plans to leave the country if necessary.
The security alert cited media sources as saying there had been threats of attacks against shopping centres, railway and metro stations and other public places, including in Moscow, St Petersburg and areas near the Russia-Ukraine border.
6 hours ago (08:53 GMT)
DPR separatists claim they are in a shoot-out with Ukrainian ‘sabotage’ group
Pro-Russian separatists have claimed they are engaged in a shoot-out with a Ukrainian “sabotage” group that entered the DPR earlier today.
The breakaway territory’s state security ministry alleged in a statement that the Ukrainians blew up an artillery and ammunition storage.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the rebels’ claims, which come after multiple warnings by top Western officials that Russia could attempt to manufacture a “pretext” for invading Ukraine.
7 hours ago (08:42 GMT)
Kyiv says it hopes Biden and Putin meet will materialise
Ukraine hopes the proposed summit between Biden and Putin can be implemented and that Kyiv can join the meeting, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov says.
“I have hopes that this initiative, thanks to President Macron and supported by President Biden … will be implemented,” Reznikov told a news briefing.
7 hours ago (08:33 GMT)
France sees ‘diplomatic hope’ to resolve Ukraine crisis
France’s foreign minister says Paris sees a chance to resolve the Ukraine crisis after Biden and Putin accepted, in principle, to hold a summit.
“There is a diplomatic hope that was revived by the president” with the summit proposal, Clement Beaune told LCI TV, referring to Macron.
“If there is still a chance to avoid war, to avoid a confrontation and build a political and diplomatic solution, then we need to take it,” he added.
7 hours ago (08:23 GMT)
‘Don’t play with human lives,’ German minister tells Moscow
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russia of playing an “irresponsible” game with the civilian population of eastern Ukraine and urged it to return to the negotiating table.
Sporadic shelling across the line dividing Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east has intensified since Thursday.
“I urgently call on the Russian government, on the Russian president: don’t play with human lives,” Baerbock told reporters after arriving in Brussels.
“What we have seen over the last 72 hours in terms of attacks, violent disputes is really concerning,” she added. “The responsibility lies with the Russian government which is why I call urgently on the Russian government: come back to the negotiating table. It is in your hands.”
7 hours ago (08:00 GMT)
Russian troops to return when ‘objective need’ arises, says Belarus
Russian armed forces will return to their permanent bases when an “objective need” to do so arises, the Belarusian defence ministry has said, a day after announcing joint military drills with Russia would be extended.
The ministry said the troop withdrawal would depend to a large extent on a pullback of NATO forces from near the borders of Belarus and Russia.
8 hours ago (07:47 GMT)
Who are the Russia-backed separatists?
Since fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, separatist rebels of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have been accused of being proxies for Russian interests, if not simply Russian soldiers in disguise.
But who exactly are the rebels in the statelets known as the DPR and LPR, home to 2.3 million and 1.5 million people respectively?
Read more here.
8 hours ago (07:25 GMT)
EU supports further talks between US and Russia on Ukraine
The EU supports the latest attempt to arrange further talks between Washington and Moscow to find a diplomatic solution, the bloc’s foreign policy chief says.
“Summit meetings, at the level of leaders, at the level of ministers, whatever format, whatever way of talking and sitting at the table and trying to avoid a war, is badly needed,” Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels.
“We will support anything that can make diplomatic conversations the best way, the only way to look for a solution to the crisis,” he added.
8 hours ago (06:59 GMT)
Russia has lists of Ukrainians ‘to be killed or sent to camps’
The US has warned the UN it has “credible information” that Russia has lists of Ukrainians “to be killed or sent to camps” in the event of an invasion, according to a letter sent to the UN rights chief.
The letter, which came as Washington warned of an imminent invasion by Russian troops massed near the Ukrainian border, said the US is “deeply concerned” and warned of a potential “human rights catastrophe”.
9 hours ago (06:45 GMT)
Biden agrees to Ukraine summit
Macron says Biden and Putin have agreed to a summit over Ukraine, offering a possible path out of one of the most dangerous European crises in decades.
Macron’s office said in a statement the French president had pitched to both leaders a summit on “security and strategic stability in Europe”.
A White House statement said Biden had accepted the meeting “in principle” but only “if an invasion hasn’t happened”.
9 hours ago (06:32 GMT)
‘Confidence-building measures’ in place to reassure Putin
PJ Crowley, former US assistant secretary of state, has said the West is working hard to simultaneously prevent a Russian invasion as well as to put something on the table that will deter Putin from sending his troops across the border.
“I think it is useful for Western leaders to continue to try to say: ‘If not this then what else could we help you with?’ to try to convince [Putin] that what’s happening in Ukraine and western Ukraine does not pose a threat to Russia,” Crowley told Al Jazeera.
“There have been constructive discussions about resurrecting treaties that have elapsed and other confidence-building measures, [and] transparency in terms of operations on NATO territory,” he added.
“At the end of the day, this is a crisis that Putin has created. He has assembled a formidable military force surrounding Ukraine and it will be his decision as to whether he carries out the invasion or not.”
9 hours ago (06:24 GMT)
Ukrainian crisis tops EU meet agenda
The Russian threat against Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda in a gathering of EU foreign ministers later today in Brussels.
The bloc has warned it will impose sweeping sanctions on Moscow should it launch an attack, echoing threats made by the US and former member state, the United Kingdom.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/f3d0amW
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment