MOSCOW – The Kremlin said on Friday it feared a resumption of large-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and could take steps to protect Russian civilians there, a strong warning that comes amid an accumulation of Russian troops along the border.
The statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov reflected the Kremlin’s decision to prevent Ukraine from using force to try to take control of separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military chief has rejected Russian claims that the country’s armed forces are preparing for an attack on the rebel east.
Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists fought in eastern Ukraine shortly after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have died in the conflict, and efforts to negotiate a political solution have ceased.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of sending troops and weapons to help separatists, which Moscow has denied. The White House says Russia now has more troops on its border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014.
Russia also claimed that it had to protect Russian speakers in Crimea when it sent troops to the Black Sea peninsula and then annexed it in March 2014 following a hastily called public vote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday, after visiting eastern troops, that 26 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed so far this year. More and more frequent violations of a July armistice agreement mean that “we are once again facing the need to establish a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said.
Separatist authorities in Donetsk say 20 soldiers and 2 civilians have been killed this year.
Western and Ukrainian officials have expressed concern in recent weeks about the growing number of ceasefire violations in the country’s industrial area. They also expressed concern about the accumulation of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine.
Concerns appear to have intensified on Friday, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his French and German counterparts about the issue. The state department said Blinken, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian discussed the need for Russia to end its military accumulation and fierce rhetoric.
During a call with Putin on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel “called for the removal of these troop reinforcements to bring about a escalation of the situation.”
Peskov said Russia was free to deploy troops wherever it wanted on its territory. He accused the Ukrainian army of “escalating provocative actions” along the eastern line of control, which threatens Russia’s security.
“The Kremlin fears that a civil war could resume in Ukraine. And if a civil war, a large-scale military action, resumes near our borders, that would threaten the security of the Russian Federation, “Peskov said. “The continuous escalation of tensions is quite unprecedented.”
In Kiev, col. -Gender. Ruslan Khomchak, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, rejected Moscow’s allegations of Ukraine’s alleged preparations for an offensive in the east as part of a “disinformation campaign” and a “hybrid war.”
Meanwhile, the Russian military said its scouts had trained for missions behind enemy lines during recent exercises in the region bordering Ukraine on Belgorod. And in the Black Sea, Russian Navy rocket boats practiced enemy enemy ships.
Dmitry Kozak, an aide to Putin who serves as Russia’s top negotiator with Kiev, warned Ukraine on Thursday against using force to take control of the east, where many residents have Russian citizenship. Such a move would mark “the beginning of an end for Ukraine,” he said, adding that Russia would probably act to protect its citizens.
Asked about Kozak’s comment, Peskov claimed that the virulent nationalist rhetoric in Ukraine showed hatred against the majority Russian-speaking population in the east. He said that if civilians in eastern Ukraine faced the threat of a massacre, “all countries, including Russia, would take steps to prevent such tragedies.”
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on Friday that the United States had informed Turkey that two US warships would sail to the Black Sea on April 14 and April 15 and would remain there until May 4 and 5. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, according to government rules.
Such visits by the US and other NATO ships have upset Moscow, which has long delayed Ukraine’s efforts to build defense ties with the West and its aspirations to eventually join NATO.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Friday that Ukraine’s NATO offer “will not only lead to a massive escalation of the situation in the southeast, but could also have irreversible consequences for the Ukrainian state.”
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This story corrects the fact that Russia said in 2014 that it must protect Russian-speaking Crimean speakers, not Russian civilians.
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Suzan Fraser of Ankara, Turkey and Matthew Lee of Washington contributed to this report.