Ukraine Accuses Pro-Russian Separatists Of Attacking Luhansk
Kiev, Feb 17: Ukraine military on Thursday accused Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine of firing shells at a village in the Luhansk region, hitting a kindergarten.
As per Ukrainian military, there were no injuries, reported the Independant.
“The shelling of a kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska by pro-Russian forces is a big provocation. It’s important that diplomats & the @OSCE remain in their monitoring activities are an additional deterrent. We need an effective mechanism for recording all ceasefire violations”, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted.
“Ukrainian Stanytsia Luhanska village was shelled with heavy weapons from the occupied territory of the Donbas. Civilian infrastructure damaged. We call on all partners to swiftly condemn this severe violation of Minsk agreements by Russia amid an already tense security situation”, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Kindergarten shelling ‘blatant attempt’ to fabricate pretext for invasion, the telegraph quoted UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss as saying.
NATO allies were helping Kiev to boost its ability to defend itself as enshrined in the UN charter, including with military equipment, cyber and intelligence expertise as well as finance, according to the British online newspaper Independant.
“We cannot accept a return to an age of spheres of influence, where big powers bully, dictate or intimidate to others,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
“We are concerned Russia is trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against Ukraine… Russia has amassed the biggest force we have seen in Europe for decades in and around Ukraine. And we know there are many Russian intelligence officers operating in Ukraine – they are present in Donbass and we’ve seen attempts to stage false-flag operations to provide an excuse for invading,” he added.
