UPDATETensions in eastern Ukraine continue to rise. On Friday, an international oil pipeline running through the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine exploded. Today, leaders of the self-declared pro-Russian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have declared a ‘general mobilization’ of military reservists.
The explosion shook the Druzhba pipeline to its foundations, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti said. Images are circulating on Twitter of a fireball that would illuminate the night sky over Lugansk. Russian state media report a second explosion in Lugansk, less than an hour after the first. The cause is not yet clear.
The Druzhba pipeline runs from Russia to several points in Eastern and Central Europe. Lugansk is seen as an important city for the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Separists
The incident comes just as tensions rise in the war-torn region and fears mount that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. Russia has built up a large military force on the country’s borders and has been accused by Ukraine and western countries of preparing an invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine are mobilizing soldiers.
“I am calling on my fellow reservist citizens to come to the conscription offices,” Denis Pushilin, the leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said in a video message. In a separate message addressed to reservists, he asked “all men capable of holding a weapon” to come forward. Leonid Paschnik, the head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, also announced a mobilization not long after.
The announcement of Pushlin and Paschnik follows what observers are calling a “dramatic increase” in frontline violence between the Ukrainian military and Moscow-backed separatists. On Saturday morning, shelling is also reported back and forth.
Russian mines
Ukraine previously said it had information that Russian special forces had laid mines in several public places in separatist-controlled Donetsk, in the east of the country. On Twitter, Ukraine’s military intelligence service said that “these (Russian) measures are aimed at destabilizing the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of our state and creating grounds to accuse Ukraine of terrorist acts.”
A car bomb is said to have exploded near the People’s Republic building in Donetsk on Friday evening, Russia’s state news agency Sputnik reported. According to Sputnik, there are no reports of injuries or damage to buildings. It was not clear whether there was actually a bomb and who was behind it.
Ukraine’s security service is urging Donetsk residents not to leave their homes and use public transport. Russian authorities have not yet responded to the allegations.
Evacuation
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Friday announced they would evacuate civilians to bring them to safety from alleged operations by the Ukrainian military, which has repeatedly denied planning anything. “Such announcements are new attempts to cover up through lies and misinformation that Russia is the aggressor in this conflict,” a US State Department spokesman said. He spoke of a “cynical and cruel way of pawning civilians to divert attention from the Russian troop build-up in preparation for an attack.”
The leaders of the self-declared pro-Russian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk say 700,000 people will be evacuated from the Donbass region. According to Pushilin, more than 6,000 people have been removed from the Donetsk region. Among them would be 2400 children. The evacuees can go to southwestern Russia, the rebel leaders said Friday.
The first buses with mainly women, children and the elderly have now arrived in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the evacuees, whom the Kremlin calls refugees, to be given shelter, medical care, food and more than 100 euros. Many residents in the separatist-controlled Donbass area have Russian passports.
Dramatic increase
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has seen a significant increase in frontline attacks in eastern Ukraine. “In recent days, the OSCE branch that monitors Ukraine has observed a dramatic increase in kinetic activity in the east of the country,” the organization said in a statement on Saturday. According to the OSCE, the number of attacks is comparable to that reported before the July 2020 ceasefire.
In Donetsk, 222 ceasefire violations were reported on Thursday, including 135 explosions. On Wednesday there were still 189 reports, compared to 24 on Tuesday. In Lugansk, 648 violations were reported on Thursday, compared to 402 on Wednesday and 129 on Tuesday.
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