Ukraine security council calls for nationwide state of emergency

Ukraine’s top security official Danilov says state of emergency would last for 30 days and could be extended for another 30 days.

Ukraine’s security council has approved plans to declare a state of national emergency in response to the growing threat of a Russian invasion.

The measure, which must be formally approved by the parliament, requires stepped-up document and vehicle checks among other measures, the council’s secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Wednesday.

Danilov said he would deliver a report to Ukraine’s parliament later on Wednesday, with politicians expected to approve the added security measures this week.

This would apply to all parts of Ukraine except for its two Russian-backed eastern separatist regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, where a deadly uprising that has killed more than 14,000 people broke out in 2014.

Earlier this week, Russia recognised them as independent states and approved the use of its troops abroad.

Danilov said that the state of emergency would last for 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days.

Danilov said each of Ukraine’s regions would be able to select which particular measures to apply, “depending on how necessary they might be”.

“This could be added enforcement of public order,” Danilov said. “This could involve limiting certain types of transport, increased vehicle checks, or asking people to show this or that document,” he added, calling it a “preventive” measure.

Danilov also said that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not discussed the development of nuclear weapons, something Vladimir Putin has said posed a strategic threat for Russia.