Can Ukrainian Crazies Launch the World into War?
April 7 , 2021 (EIRNS)—On the ground, Ukrainian army shelling continues to wreak havoc in the breakaway republics in the Donbas region. According to the Donetsk News Agency, shelling knocked out the electricity in the village of Vasilyevka, to the northeast of Donetsk city. The D.P.R. representative in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination this morning reported eight ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces in the previous 24 hours, involving 89 rounds fired from grenade launchers and mortars. In addition to the power outage in Vasilyevka, a water pumping station in another village was also knocked out.
In light of these provocations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed doubt as to whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even controls the Ukrainian army along the line of contact, which the ceasefire established. “So far, we can’t see signs indicating that the Ukrainian side wants to somewhat calm down, drop bellicose rhetoric hidden behind the talk about some imaginary threat and take control of its army units that are deployed directly along the contact line [in Donbas] and that often become a source of provocations,” he said, reported TASS. According to the Kremlin spokesman, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin “clearly worded” Moscow’s concerns over the situation in Ukraine. “Other capitals have also been informed about our concerns. Indeed, the situation leaves much to be desired,” Peskov added.
“It’s vital to make sure that nothing incites the Ukrainian Armed Forces to launch hostilities against their own people, the people who live in the self-proclaimed republics,” he pointed out. Peskov declined to comment when asked what Moscow could do to protect Russian passport holders in Donbas if tensions continued to escalate, saying it was inappropriate to speculate about possible developments. There are reported to be some 250,000 such passport holders in the two breakaway republics based in Donetsk and Luhansk.
A Ukrainian official, meanwhile, announced yesterday that the Kiev regime would not be sending its representatives back to Minsk to participate in the Minsk Contact Group discussions after the COVID-19 quarantine is over. “We explained that the Ukrainian delegation will not send its members to Minsk. We will still have to look for another country, another place to conduct it in real life,” said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov. He explained this position by Russia’s influence on Belarus today. Ukraine does not trust this territory in this regard. According to Reznikov, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian opinions are dominating in Belarus now.
