Ukraine rebel leaders order full military mobilisation
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine also urge reservists to enlist amid fears of an escalation in fighting.
The leaders of the eastern Ukraine breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have declared a full military mobilisation, moves that come amid a spike in violence in the war-torn region that the West fears could be used as a pretext for an invasion by Russia.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said he will oversee major military drills along Ukraine’s borders on Saturday, while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is headed to Europe to drum up support.
Russia has rejected US allegations that it was responsible for cyberattacks on Ukrainian banking and government websites as baseless.
Hello, I’m Linah Alsaafin and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
Ukraine reports a soldier killed in separatists shelling
The Ukrainian military said a soldier was killed in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine,
The Ukrainian militay said on its Facebook page that it had recorded 19 ceasefire violations by the separatists since the start of the day compared with 66 cases over the previous 24 hours.
Separatists opened fire on more than 20 settlements, using heavy artillery, which have been prohibited by Minsk agreements, the military said.
Ukraine’s Luhansk rebel leader declares general mobilisation
The leader of the Luhansk separatist region in eastern Ukraine has followed Donetsk in issuing a general mobilisation order.
“I rule to declare a general mobilisation on the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” said the decree, which was signed by the region’s head Leonid Pasechnik.
Ukraine rebel leader announces ‘general mobilisation’
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic – a breakaway region in Ukraine – has claimed his region’s forces had prevented attacks he said were planned by Kyiv, and that the Ukrainian army had continued attacks
“I urge my fellow citizens who are in the reserves to come to military conscription offices. Today I signed a decree on general mobilisation,” he said in a video statement.
“Together, we will achieve for all of us the victory we desire and need. We will protect Donbas and all Russian people,” Pushilin added.
The announcement came as a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to neighbouring Russia was under way.
Russia rejects claims it was responsible for cyberattack on Ukraine
Russia has rejected US allegations that it was responsible for cyberattacks on Ukrainian banking and government websites as baseless, the Russian embassy in the United States said on Twitter.
“We categorically reject these baseless statements of the administration and note that Russia has nothing to do with the mentioned events and in principle has never conducted and does not conduct any ‘malicious’ operations in cyberspace,” it said.
We have taken note of purely anti-Russian statements of Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger, who accused the Russian special services of cyberattacks on Ukrainian defense agencies and banks. pic.twitter.com/AVuyQ8swWl
— Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) February 19, 2022
US Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger said on Friday that Russian military intelligence was behind the recent spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline.
War fears mount as Putin to oversee drills, Zelenskyy to meet allies
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is set to oversee major military drills along Ukraine’s borders, while his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to travel to Germany to meet Western leaders, including US Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Kremlin continues to say it has no plans to attack, despite Washington saying a Russian invasion could happen within days.
You can read updates from Friday, February 18 here.
