Tensions rise at Ukraine-Russia border: two Ukrainian soldiers killed in fighting against Moscow-backed separatists

Two Ukrainian servicemen killed in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in the east Ukraine, announced on Monday the armed forces of this country, in a context of escalating tensions between Kiev and Moscow.

As the military reported in separate messages, one serviceman was fatally injured on Saturday and another on Monday.

A total of 27 Ukrainian soldiers have died so far this year, more than half of all those who perished in 2020, according to Ukrainian forces. Attacks have intensified in recent weeks and Russia has stepped up its military presence along the border with Ukraine.

Ukraine, which fears the Kremlin is looking for a pretext to attack it, accuses Russia of concentrate more than 80,000 soldiers near its eastern border and in the Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

According to the latest estimates, some 41,000 Russian troops are in eastern Ukraine, declared Monday at AFP Presidential spokesperson Yulia Mendel. In Crimea, 9,000 soldiers were recently added to the 33,000 already presenthe added.

According to Kiev, the separatists also have 28,000 combatants and more than 2,000 Russian military advisers and instructors in the territory they control..

Faced with the resurgence of fighting, the Ukrainian president, Volodomir Zelensky, requested a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on March 26, but has yet to receive a response, Mendel said.

In addition, Zelensky went to the border a few days ago and visited the trenches.

Russia denies claims by the West that it has sent forces to eastern Ukraine to help the rebels, but says it could intervene if Ukraine attempts to take the area by force. According to the Kremlin, Russia “will not ignore the plight of Russian speakers living in the southeast of the country”, referring to Donbass, where Moscow has distributed more than 600,000 passports since 2019. Russia says it does not. he “never” was part of the conflict in the Donbass, where he speaks of “civil war”, an argument that Peskov reiterated on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sunday that “if Russia acts aggressively or irresponsibly it will pay for it, there will be consequences”..

Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatist rebels, organized in the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (unrecognized by the international community), since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula and began supporting the separatists of the region. More than 14,000 people have died in the conflict and attempts to reach a negotiated solution have so far failed..

Meanwhile, the history of Ukraine has been closely linked with that of Russia for centuries. More recently, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and, after its fall in 1917, of the emerging Soviet Union, until finally becoming independent in 1991. Relations have since been strained, and Kiev has repeatedly looked to Western Europe, the European Union and even NATO for its security, arousing strong reactions from Moscow.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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