UK prime minister says picture in Ukraine “continues to be very grim”
From CNN’s Sugam Pokharel
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine “continues to be very grim.”
“The picture in Ukraine continues to be very grim. This weekend I will travel to the [Munich Security Conference] for discussions with partners,” he said in a tweet.
“The West is united: De-escalation and dialogue is the only way forward,” he reiterated.
Earlier on Thursday, British defense ministry said its latest intelligence assessment suggests that Russia could invade Ukraine “without further warning.”
View his tweet here:
OSCE reports sharp increase in ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine
From CNN’s Tim Lister in Kyiv
Monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported a sharp escalation in ceasefire violations along the frontlines dividing Ukrainian and separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine reported in their latest daily bulletin that in the 24 hours until 7:30 p.m. local time on Feb. 16, they recorded 189 ceasefire violations in the Donetsk region, including 128 explosions.
In the previous reporting period, it recorded 24 ceasefire violations in the region. In Luhansk region, the mission recorded 402 ceasefire violations, including 188 explosions, when in the previous reporting period, it recorded 129 ceasefire violations in the region.
The SMM reported that a member of the armed formations [separatist forces] threatened an SMM patrol at a training area in the Luhansk region.
“The Mission’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted, including at a heavy weapons holding area in a government-controlled area of Luhansk region, at a permanent storage site and a heavy weapons holding area in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region, and at a training area in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region,” it said.
“Its unmanned aerial vehicles again encountered instances of GPS signal interference, assessed as caused by probable jamming,” it continued.
The violations continued on Thursday. A resident of the city of Donetsk — which is controlled by the separatists — told CNN that shelling in her district had been the heaviest in two years. There was no clarity on where that fire had originated from.
The OSCE said that on Thursday as a result of “allegations of civilian casualties and damage to civilian properties and infrastructure sites over the past 24 hours, the Mission rerouted a number of its patrols in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including to a kindergarten and a railway station in Stanitsya Luhanska (government-controlled, 16km north-east of Luhansk).”
The kindergarten was hit by artillery fire early Thursday. Two people suffered minor injuries, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Both sides in the conflict accused the other of ceasefire violations Thursday. The Ukrainian defense ministry said that as of 2 p.m. local time Thursday its forces recorded “34 ceasefire violations committed by the Russian occupation forces, 28 of which by using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.”
The Donetsk People’s Republic said Thursday that “Since the beginning of the current day, Ukrainian militants have violated the ceasefire 22 times.”
Russia says it’s their “sovereign right” to station troops where they are needed for country’s defense
Russia’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin said Thursday that it’s their country’s “sovereign right” to consider their security and station their troops where they are needed for national defense.
“If we do something, we do this having in mind our national interests, and the interests of our national security,” Vershinin told reporters after Thursday’s Security Council meeting on the Minsk agreement. “This is our sovereign right to think about our security … and also to have our troops where we believe they are important for the defense, once more for the defense, of the Russian Federation.”
Vershinin said allegations that Russia plans to invade Ukraine are tantamount to “hysteria” and echoed earlier assertions by Russian officials that officials in Western countries are fueling it.
“I believe that now we look at our partners in western capitals to drop and to stop this hysteria about the intentions of Russia in the region,” Vershinin said, adding that their commitment is to the “de-escalation and peaceful solution of this crisis.”
“I believe in diplomacy and I’m glad that our partners believe in diplomacy. Certainly we should do all that is possible to find a diplomatic and peaceful solution for this,” Vershinin said, calling the conflict an “inter-Ukrainian crisis.”
Recently constructed pontoon bridge in key area in Belarus now appears to be gone
From CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis
A pontoon bridge built across a key river in Belarus less than four miles from the Ukrainian border has been removed, according to new satellite images and sources familiar with the matter.
Western intelligence and military officials had closely tracked the bridge construction as part of the support infrastructure Russia is putting in place in advance of a potential invasion, three sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN.
Satellite images from Maxar and Planet Labs showed the appearance of the tactical bridge virtually overnight on Tuesday.
But by Thursday, the bridge was already gone.
It was not immediately clear why it had been constructed or removed. It’s possible that the bridge was used as part of what Russia has claimed are merely exercises inside Belarus, its closest international ally in the standoff on Ukraine border. It’s also possible that Russian or Belarusian forces deployed there — forces that Western officials assess could be used to invade Ukraine from the north — already moved materiel across and no longer needed it.
According to Western intelligence assessments, Russian President Vladimir Putin is positioned to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine at any time — although the U.S. still does not believe he has made a decision yet.
US ambassador to the UN: We are “deeply concerned” about Russia’s “path of confrontation” regarding Ukraine
From CNN’s Kylie Atwood
The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US is “deeply concerned” that Russia has chosen the path of confrontation with Ukraine, instead of de-escalation.
“For the second time in two weeks, the rest of the Security Council has delivered a clear, unambiguous message to Russia to pursue the diplomatic path. Do not pursue the path of confrontation. Unfortunately, we are deeply concerned that this is the path Russia has chosen,” Thomas-Greenfield said during a stakeout after Thursday’s UN Security Council meeting.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged Russia to state that it has no intention to invade Ukraine today at the UN Security Council meeting, but she said that the remarks from Russia in recent days have been “incendiary rhetoric.”
The Russian Duma’s recommendation this week that the Kremlin formally recognize parts of the Donbas as an independent state “shows Russia’s total contempt” for the Minsk agreements, Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Political resolutions to years-long conflict cannot happen at the barrel of a gun,” she said, adding that there is “only one country making threats” and that country is Russia.
The US hopes Russia does not invade Ukraine but fears the worst she said.
“As Secretary Blinken said this morning, we very much hope that Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine and proves us wrong. But we fear the worst,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “That is why today the Security Council once again, urge rest of Russia to pursue the path of diplomacy.
She said every single UN member state has a stake in this brewing crisis.
“This is a moment for collective action,” she said. “There is too much at risk for anyone to sit on the fence.”
Russian official maintains troops are conducting drills on their own territory
From CNN’s Laura Ly
Sergey Vershinin, Russia’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, reiterated at Thursday’s United Nations Security Council meeting that Russian troops at the Ukrainian border remain on Russian land conducting drills.
“The fact is that the Russian forces were in the Russian territory and remain on the Russian territory,” Vershinin said. “My country is conducting drills in our own territory in the regime that we deem needed.”
Vershinin added that his country’s government is “ready for a dialogue … not imitation dialogue, but a real one.”
United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield responded to Vershinin’s comments by saying she hoped her Russian counterpart would announce that they do not plan to invade Ukraine.
“Instead, it was a continuation of the disinformation and the rhetoric that we continue to hear, and we’ve heard before,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Let me just say clearly … we will continue to intensify, we will continue to escalate our diplomatic efforts, and we call for Russia to cease confrontation and accept our invitation to dialogue.” Thomas-Greenfield said. “I will end by saying what [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] said today: he did not come here to promote war, but he came here to prevent war and to find a way to a peaceful solution.”
UK intelligence: Russia could invade Ukraine “without further warning”
From CNN’s Niamh Kennedy and Sarah Dean
Russia could invade Ukraine “without further warning,” according to the latest intelligence from the British defense ministry.
“Russia retains a significant military presence that can conduct an invasion without further warning,” it warned in a tweet Thursday.
The tweet included a map of “President Putin’s possible axis of invasion,” which showed Russia being capable of carrying out phase one ground movement towards Kyiv from two points along the Belarusian border and one point from the Western Russia border.
The map additionally showed the possibility of phase one ground movements towards Dnipro from two points and from Crimea towards Mariupol.
The map also displayed potential phase two ground movements from Crimea towards Mykolaiv and from Dnipro towards Vinnytsya. It also showed potential phase one ground movements from the Western Russian border towards the direction of Luhansk.
Based on this intelligence, Putin “still can choose to prevent conflict and preserve peace,” the ministry emphasized.
View the tweet from the British Ministry of Defence, below:
Ukrainian foreign minister accuses Russian-backed separatists of using a tank for shelling in eastern Ukraine
From CNN’s Anastasia Graham-Yooll
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has accused Russian-backed separatists of using a tank to carry out artillery fire in eastern Ukraine, adding that authorities had, as of 3 p.m. local time, “tallied 42 instances of gunfire in the area.”
“The enemy fired at the Ukrainian territories with heavy artillery forbidden by the Minsk Agreement,” Kuleba said Thursday, highlighting that a tank was also used for shelling.
Speaking during a news briefing alongside his British counterpart, Liz Truss, the Ukrainian foreign minister accused Russia of spreading disinformation to blame Ukraine for the incident.
���These shells came from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, which are controlled by Russia,” Kuleba told members of the press in Kyiv.
“Russian propaganda is trying to falsify reality and blame Ukraine for this shelling, but we are confident that they won’t succeed,” he added.
Both Ukrainian armed forces and separatists controlling parts of eastern Ukraine reported renewed shelling in the region early Thursday.
The Ukrainian armed forces said that “Russian occupation troops shelled the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska.” Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement Thursday that “Ukrainian Forces fired in response to suppress enemy’s activity, strictly adhering to the Minsk agreements.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the reports of shellfire were a matter of “very, very deep concern” but added that there were no plans to discuss the matter with the Ukrainian government.
Video and images confirmed by CNN show that a kindergarten in Ukrainian-controlled territory was hit by a shell Thursday. The kindergarten is less than five kilometers from the front lines that separate Ukrainian troops from the Russian-backed forces of the breakaway regions. CNN has not established who initiated the exchange of fire.
Russian official says Ukraine is not adhering to Minsk agreement and attempts to blame Russia are “baseless”
From CNN’s Laura Ly
Russia’s deputy minister for foreign affairs said at Thursday’s United Nations Security Council meeting that the Ukrainian government is not adhering to its obligations under the Minsk agreement, and attempts to blame Russia are “futile and baseless.”
“We are increasingly thinking that the implementation of the Minsk agreement is not something that’s in the plans of our Ukrainian neighbors,” Sergey Vershinin said in translated remarks. “Seven years down the road, it is clear that none of the provisions of the package of measures have been implemented by Ukraine in full, starting with the first one – ceasefire.”
The United States and other countries have said that Russia is to blame for the failure of the Minsk agreement’s full implementation.
Vershinin refuted claims that Russia was not adhering to its own obligations, saying there is “absolutely no grounds for that,” given there is no mention of Russia in the agreement’s text.
“Attempts to place blame on Russia are futile and baseless. And this only hides the goal of shifting the blame away from Ukraine. I must say, we are very disappointed by the…position of our Western colleagues who are trying not to see obvious things,” Vershinin said.
The Russian representative, who was the first country-representative speaker at Thursday’s meeting, told other subsequent speakers to not make the meeting a “circus” and to not present “baseless accusations saying that Russia allegedly was going to attack Ukraine.”
“We have long ago clarified everything and explained everything. And the announced date of this so-called invasion is behind us, so therefore…my advice to you is [to] not present yourself in an awkward situation,” Vershinin said.
In remarks to the UN, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that intelligence clearly indicates that the buildup of Russian forces signals an attack against Ukraine in “the coming days.”
