প্রকাশ: 27/04/2022
Concerns that the Ukraine war could escalate into a wider
conflict grew on Tuesday as Kyiv accused Moscow of trying to create unrest in a
Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova.
The United Nations and United States warned of rising
tensions in the Transnistria region of Moldova, as UN chief Antonio Guterres
met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and pleaded for peace.
Russian forces have been in Transnistria for decades after
the predominantly Russian-speaking region seceded from the former Soviet
republic.
Blasts this week targeting the state security ministry, a
radio tower and military unit came after a Russian commander claimed Russian
speakers in Moldova were being oppressed.
The claim triggered alarm that Moldova could be Russia's
next target as Moscow used the same "false flag" argument after
launching its bloody invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
"Russia wants to destabilise the Transnistrian
region," Mykhaylo Podolyak, a Ukraine presidential aide wrote on Twitter.
"If Ukraine falls, tomorrow Russian troops will be at
Chisinau's gates," he said, referring to Moldova's capital.
Guterres "is following with concern reports of new
security incidents in the Transnistrian region of Moldova," a UN spokesman
said.
The United States echoed similar concerns, stopping short of
backing Kyiv's contention that Russia was responsible.
"We fully support Moldova's territorial integrity and
sovereignty," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
- Arms flow into Ukraine -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying for
heavier firepower to push back the Russian advance now focused on the eastern
region of Donbas.
Western allies are wary of being drawn into an outright war
with Russia, but Washington pledged Tuesday at a summit to move "heaven
and earth" to enable Ukraine to emerge victorious.
"Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does
everyone here," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told 40 allies gathered
at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
With arms flowing into Ukraine, Germany announced Tuesday it
would send anti-aircraft tanks -- a sharp U-turn dropping its much-criticized
cautious stance.
"I can say one thing: The Ukrainian army will have
something to fight with," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said
in a briefing on Facebook.
"We have entered a completely new phase.... But this is
just the beginning. Much more will come to us."
The Ukrainian defence ministry reported in its latest update
that fighting was raging across the east with shelling of Kharkiv city and
Russian troops launching an offensive on the town of Barvinkove near Izium.
- 'I made a wish' -
"I miss my kickboxing training and dance classes,"
nine-year-old Alina, who has slept in an underground car park in Kharkiv
through a barrage of Russian rockets since the war began over two months ago,
told AFP.
"Victory would make me very happy. The war won't end
straight away, but it will in a few weeks, I made a wish."
At the entrance to Barvinkove, not far from the Russian
lines, six Ukrainian soldiers were ready at any moment to dive into their
trench, which they dig every day with a shovel.
"Otherwise, we're dead," said Vasyl, 51, who
serves with his 22-year-old son Denys.
Ukraine officials said there was fighting all along
frontlines in the Donetsk region, and that resistance in the Azovstal factory
in the besieged port city of Mariupol was still holding out.
Fierce Ukrainian fighting in recent weeks has beaten back
Russian troops from around the capital Kyiv and from the Chernobyl nuclear
zone.
But Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian troops' conduct at
Chernobyl showed that "no one in the world can feel safe."
Russia treated the toxic site "like a normal
battleground, territory where they didn't even try to care about nuclear
safety," he said during a press conference with UN atomic watchdog chief
Rafael Grossi.
Ukraine's best-known singer Sviatoslav Vakarchuk made a
morale-boosting visit to the eastern front, where a military press officer
admitted the situation was difficult.
"It's far from rosy," Iryna Rybakova, of the 93rd
brigade, told AFP. "Of course, we were prepared for this war, especially
the professional army, but for those who've been recruited, it's more
complicated."
Guterres, at his talks with Putin, called for Moscow and
Kyiv to work together with the UN to set up aid and evacuation corridors to
help civilians escape.
After "very frank talks" with Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, Guterres said that "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a
violation of its territorial integrity and against the Charter of the United
Nations."
The UN chief's spokesman said Putin had agreed in principle
to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross being
involved in evacuating civilians from Mariupol.
Despite the bloodshed, Putin -- who shocked the world by
sending troops into Ukraine -- told Guterres that he believed peace
negotiations could succeed.
"We still hope that we will be able to reach agreements
on the diplomatic track," Putin said.
Sitting across from the UN chief at a long table at the
Kremlin, Putin said efforts at talks had been derailed by claims of atrocities
committed by Russian forces.
- Civilians flee -
Russia said it had carried out high-precision missile
strikes against 32 Ukrainian military targets including four ammunition depots
on Tuesday. It also launched airstrikes against 33 targets and 100 artillery
and rocket strikes.
In the south, two Russian missiles struck the industrial
city of Zaporizhzhia, which has welcomed many civilians fleeing Mariupol,
regional authorities said.
Russian forces are expected to soon advance on the city,
giving them the potential to seize Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant.
Strikes on Tuesday killed at least nine civilians in the
south and east, Ukrainian officials said.
The UN's refugee agency said it now expects more than eight
million Ukrainians to eventually flee their country, with nearly 5.3 million
already out, and that $1.85 billion would be needed to host them in
neighbouring countries, mainly Poland.
– BSS/AFP
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