While shelling struck towns in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and civilians boarded buses in a chaotic evacuation, Russia put on a dramatic display of military theatre, test-firing ballistic and cruise missiles to remind the West that a conflict over Ukraine could quickly escalate. In eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have falsely claimed that Ukraine was planning a large-scale attack, separatist leaders have urged women and children to flee and able-bodied men to prepare to fight.
Western leaders ridiculed the idea that Ukraine would attack while surrounded by Russian forces, while Ukrainian officials dismissed the claim as “a cynical Russian lie.” However, the fabricated panic was a troubling sign of what the US has warned could serve as a pretext for a Russian invasion. President Joe Biden declared Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine had already been made.
Ukraine President flew to Munich to get support for his country
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, flew to Munich on Saturday to bolster Western support for his persecuted country. There, Western leaders presented a united front and repeatedly pleaded for a diplomatic solution. Vice President Kamala Harris has described the crisis as “a watershed moment” for European security and the defense of democratic values.
Putin said that Missile is capable of carrying Nuclear Warheads
Putin, on the other hand, sent his own message by presiding over missile tests capable of carrying nuclear warheads as part of what Russia insists are merely military exercises around Ukraine and not a precursor to an invasion. Tensions between the US and Russia have not been this high since the end of the Cold War, and Russia’s nuclear drills on Saturday appeared to be carefully timed to deter the West from direct military intervention in Ukraine.
Harris warned in Munich that if Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and its allies would target not only financial institutions and technology exports to Russia but also “those who are complicit in and direct this unprovoked invasion.” “Russia continues to assert its readiness for dialogue while simultaneously closing off avenues for diplomacy,” she said. “Their deeds simply do not correspond to their words.”
Zelenskyy, who flew to Munich for a few hours despite US concerns that he stay in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, impatiently pressed Western leaders to take stronger action immediately.
Shelling intensified in Ukraine
In Ukraine, shelling intensified in the east, where separatists backed by Russia have been battling government forces in recent days. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported Saturday that artillery fire has resumed along the entire length of the front line. According to the ministry, the level of shelling was roughly double that of the previous two days.
According to the Ukrainian military, two soldiers were killed and five others were wounded in the area’s fighting. Several intense artillery barrages targeted a pocket of government-controlled territory near Svitlodarsk, a location that has alarmed security analysts for weeks due to its proximity to dangerous industrial infrastructure, including poisonous gas storage tanks. Residents of the breakaway region of Luhansk expressed fear of the escalation, claiming both sides had been shelling each other in recent days.
Additionally, there were alarming signs of what US officials described as possible precursors to a Russian invasion pretext. The leaders of Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine issued a call Saturday for all men to register to fight in the territory they control.
The separatists, who are viewed as Russian proxies by the West, called for the evacuation of 700,000 women and children from the region on Friday, claiming that Ukrainian government forces were planning a large-scale attack.
The Ukrainian government denied any plans for an attack, and the US dismissed the charge as a fabrication designed to give Russia an excuse to invade.
As did Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who dismissed Russian claims that Kyiv is committing “genocide” in the eastern Donbas region as “completely ridiculous.” A Russian incursion into Ukraine would be a “grave error” with immediate and severe “political, economic, and strategic” ramifications, Scholz stated at the Munich Security Conference. “Nothing justifies Russia’s deployment of well over 100,000 troops throughout Ukraine. No country should be considered the backyard of another.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen both issued similar warnings. She pledged a robust package of financial and economic sanctions against Moscow in the event of aggression that “could cost Russia a prosperous future.”
Even Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated, in a striking rebuke to Russia, that each country’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity should be protected. “Ukraine is not an exception,” he stated during a virtual appearance at the Munich security conference. However, he urged the US to refrain from issuing “hyperbolic warnings” about Russian intentions.
Russia conducted three missile tests
Russian missile tests, consisting of three ballistic and cruise missiles, were intended to generate media attention. Putin viewed the display from a Kremlin command center alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, whose government brutally suppressed dissent following a disputed election and is considering allowing Russia to base some of its nuclear arsenal on its territory.
The test was unremarkable technologically, with Moscow releasing videos showing a fighter jet launching a cruise missile from the air, a mobile launch vehicle launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, and a hypersonic sea-launched missile.
While two of the three weapons displayed Saturday have been demonstrated previously, two of them were designed to evade US missile defenses. The Kremlin stated that the test was intended to demonstrate Russia’s “triad” of launch capabilities — ground, air, and sea — which mirrors the US arsenal.