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UKRAINE

Ukraine envoy in Geneva warns of Russian attack

Evidence suggests Moscow is preparing a large-scale assault in southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, the crisis-hit country's ambassador to the United Nation in Geneva warned on Thursday.

Ukraine envoy in Geneva warns of Russian attack
Photo: UN

"There are indications that Russia is braced to unleash a full-blown intervention on Ukraine's east and south," said Yurii Klymenko, Kiev's ambassador.
   
"Ukraine is on the highest alert to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity by all means," he told reporters, adding that Kiev still hoped that the UN could stem the crisis and had repeatedly called for talks.
   
The march by Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militias across Crimea, a mostly Russian-speaking peninsula, has been unhalting since President Vladimir Putin reserved the right to use force against his ex-Soviet neighbour following the February 22nd fall of its Moscow-backed leader.
   
After Moscow's annexation of Crimea, Kiev's new leaders and their Western allies fear that Putin has his sights on the Russified southeastern swathes of Ukraine.
   
The Kremlin says it needs to "protect" Russian-speakers beyond its borders, something Klymenko rejected.
   
"Russia is just exploiting this issue of national minorities in order to invade," he said, adding that Ukraine had no quarrel with Russian-speakers or the people of Russia.
   
"The facts indicate that Crimea is not the only region of Ukraine that could be an object of Russian invasion," he said.
   
Klymenko said a Russian military build-up in Kherson, a Ukrainian province just north of Crimea, indicated a planned onslaught, and also cited allegations that Russians were laying landmines in the area.
   
He said Russian citizens had taken part in attacks on administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian authorities had detained individuals with Russian security service IDs who had come to lend support to hardline separatists.
   
"Ukraine and the Ukrainian people are ready to protect their homeland by all means necessary," Klymenko said, though "at this stage we are committed to a peaceful solution."
   
In Crimea, Kiev initially ordered its troops not to use their weapons against pro-Russian adversaries, but later said they could fire back if attacked.
   
"The use of the right to self-defence would be the last resort for Ukraine," Klymenko said.
   
Klymenko said that with Moscow ripping up the post-Soviet security guarantees it helped to create in the 1990s, the situation was "very dangerous for the whole international community."
   
He raised the spectre of further Kremlin strong-arming, pointing to tensions with Moldova and Estonia.

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UKRAINE

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Germany on Monday said it had reached an agreement to help Poland protect its skies following a deadly rocket strike close to the border with Ukraine.

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Berlin would “send Patriot anti-aircraft systems to Poland and support the securing of Polish airspace with Eurofighter (jets)”, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Germany to buy F-35 fighter jets in military shopping spree

Two people were killed last week when a missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, six kilometres (four miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Warsaw and NATO have said the explosion was likely caused by a Ukrainian air-defence missile launched to intercept a Russian barrage, but that Moscow was ultimately to blame because it started the conflict.

Before the deal was agreed, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he “welcomed the German proposal with satisfaction”.

Blaszczak said on Twitter he would propose for the systems to be “stationed close to the border with Ukraine”.

Germany has already sent Patriot anti-aircraft units to Slovakia, where Berlin hopes to keep them deployed for longer than currently planned.

The air-defence systems should remain in Slovakia “until the end of 2023 and potentially even beyond”, Lambrecht told the Rheinische Post daily.

“It is our utmost responsibility that NATO does not become a participant in this conflict,” while strengthening its air defences, she said.

READ ALSO: Germany and Spain to train Ukraine troops under EU programme

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