WASHINGTON – The US said yesterday said it was increasingly concerned over Russian militarisation along Ukraine’s border, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to the eastern frontline.
The number of Russian troops at the border with the former Soviet republic is now greater “than at any time since 2014,” when war in eastern Ukraine first broke out and Russia seized the Crimea region, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in Washington.
“The United States is increasingly concerned by recent escalating Russian aggressions in eastern Ukraine, including Russian troop movements on Ukraine's border,” Psaki told reporters.
“These are all deeply concerning signs.”
Her comments came after the Ukrainian president visited the eastern frontline where fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists has intensified in recent weeks.
Images released by Zelensky’s office showed the 43-year-old leader in the trenches clad in a helmet and bulletproof vest, handing out awards to Ukrainian soldiers and shaking their hands.
The long-running conflict in Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking east has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2014.
Also yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Moscow to reduce its troops buildup.
In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Merkel asked him to scale down the “troop reinforcements” on the border “to de-escalate tensions,” her office said in a statement.
Putin meanwhile “drew attention to the provocative actions of Kiev, which has recently been purposefully exacerbating the situation on the frontline,” the Kremlin said.
Zelensky this week urged NATO to speed up his country's request for membership in the alliance, saying this was the only way to end the conflict.
Alliance members responded with calls for Kiev to continue military and defence reforms.
Together with France and Germany, Ukraine and Russia are part of the Normandy format of countries that have sought to resolve the conflict since 2015 but have failed to end the fighting.
A new round of Ukraine talks is set for April 19. – AFP, April 9, 2021
