Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Russian army tanks are loaded onto railway platforms to move back to their permanent base after drills. (Photo credit: AP/PTI)
As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to remain on the brink, Moscow has increased shelling in a sign to bolster its aggressive approach towards its neighbouring ex-Soviet nation. On Thursday, Russia’s continuous firing in the Donbas region hit a nursery school and injured two teachers, the US embassy in Kyiv said in a Twitter post. The attack on the city of Stanytsia Luhanska blew a hole through the wall of the kindergarten. “Russia’s shelling of Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in Donbas hit a kindergarten, injured two teachers, and knocked out power in the village. The aggressor in Donbas is clear – Russia. This attack, as with so many others, is a heinous Russian violation of the Minsk Agreements and again demonstrates Russia’s disregard for Ukrainian civilians on both sides of the line of contact,” US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted.
The Ukrainian military said 32 shells landed on the city, also injuring a serviceman and disrupting electricity supplies, The Guardian reported.
The attack was part of an apparently coordinated bombardment by pro-Russian separatists in multiple locations across the frontline.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian security forces fired on the territory of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic 29 times a day, RIA Novosti was told at the LPR office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC). They fired using 122-millimetre artillery pieces, large-calibre mortars and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). As a result of the shelling, four apartment buildings in the village of Nikolaevka controlled by the republic and the premises of an oil workshop were damaged.
Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics said on Thursday that Ukrainian armed forces opened fire on their positions.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday said that there was now every indication Russia was planning to invade Ukraine, including signs Moscow was carrying out a false flag operation to justify it, after Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow rebels traded fire.
“We have reason to believe they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine and attack Ukraine,” news agency Reuters quoted Biden as saying.
Russia has denied that it is planning to invade Ukraine and had said it was pulling back some of the more than 100,000 troops it has massed near the frontier. Washington says Russia is not withdrawing, but in fact sending more forces.
Blinken and Lavrov to meet next week
The US said that secretary of state Antony J Blinken will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Europe next week if no Ukraine invasion.
“Russians have responded with proposed dates for late next week, which we are accepting, provided there is no further Russian invasion of Ukraine. If they do invade in the coming days, it will make clear they were never serious about diplomacy,” AFP quoted US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price as saying.
The meeting, which was initially suggested by the US, was initiated “because we believe the only responsible way to resolve this crisis is through diplomacy and dialogue,” Ned Price said.
UK’s warning to Russia
The United Kingdom has warned the Kremlin against formally recognising two pro-Moscow separatist territories in Ukraine, days after the Russian Parliament voted to urge President Vladimir Putin to do so.
“The Duma’s request that Vladimir Putin recognises the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent shows flagrant disregard for Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements,” AFP quoted British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as saying in a statement.
Russia expels US official in Moscow
Russia has expelled the second-highest-ranking American official from the US Embassy in Moscow, the State Department said, as President Biden warned that the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains “very high.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Gorman was forced to leave Moscow in response to what it called the “unreasonable expulsion” of a senior Russian official by Washington, accusing the United States of unleashing a “visa war”, says report.
Bart Gorman, the US deputy chief of mission to Russia, was expelled from the Russian capital on Thursday.
“Russia’s action against our DCM (deputy chief of mission) was unprovoked and we consider this an escalatory step and are considering our response,” a State Department spokesperson said.
(With inputs from agencies)
