Ukraine to enter state of emergency as citizens in Russia urged to leave 'immediately'
A Ukrainian service member walks along a trench at a position on the front line near the city of Novoluhanske in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Picture: Reuters
Ukraine declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and told its citizens in Russia to flee, while Moscow began evacuating its Kyiv embassy in the latest ominous signs for Ukrainians who fear an all-out Russian military onslaught.
There are reports that US intelligence has warned that an attack on Ukraine is imminent.
According to a report in the US warned that the offensive could begin within the next 48 hours.
Other outlets, including , have verified Newsweek's report.
Shelling intensified at the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, where Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of two Moscow-backed rebel regions this week and has ordered the deployment of Russian troops as "peacekeepers".
"Predicting what might be the next step of Russia, the separatists or the personal decisions of the Russian president - I cannot say," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian government has announced it will impose a 30-day state of emergency could restrict the freedom of movement of conscripted reservists, see curbs imposed on the media and lead to personal document checks, according to a draft text that needs to be approved by parliament.
The restrictions would come into force from Thursday.
It has also announced compulsory military service for all men of fighting age.
Ukrainian government and state websites, which have experienced outages in recent weeks blamed by Kriv on cyberattacks, were again offline on Wednesday. Ukraine's parliament, cabinet and foreign ministry websites were affected.
Moscow denies planning an invasion and has described warnings as anti-Russian hysteria. But it has taken no steps to withdraw the troops deployed along Ukraine's frontiers.
On Wednesday, it took down flags from its embassy in Kyiv, having ordered its diplomats to evacuate for safety reasons.
Washington has described Russia's actions as the start of an "invasion", but along with allies has so far unveiled mostly incremental sanctions, while making clear they were keeping tougher measures in reserve in case of a full-scale invasion.
European Union sanctions approved on Wednesday will add all members of Russia's lower house of parliament who voted to recognise the separatist regions in Ukraine to a blacklist, freezing their assets and banning travel.
EU leaders will also hold an emergency summit on Thursday to discuss what to do next.
The steps follow measures announced on Tuesday, including freezing the approval of a new Russian gas pipeline by Germany, and imposing new U.S. sanctions on Russian banks.
But none of the measures announced so far directly targets Putin himself, or is expected to have serious medium-term consequences for Moscow, which is sitting on more than $630 billion in international reserves.
Western countries have been warning for weeks about the possibility of the bloodiest war in Europe for decades.
That has not materialised but the apparent threat remains, leaving policymakers to struggle with calibrating their response.
Ukraine's military said one soldier had been killed and six wounded in increased shelling by pro-Russian separatists using heavy artillery, mortar bombs and Grad rocket systems in the two breakaway areas over the previous 24 hours.
New satellite imagery showed several fresh troop and equipment deployments in western Russia and more than 100 vehicles at a small airfield in southern Belarus, which borders Ukraine, according to U.S. firm Maxar.
For months, Russia has presented the crisis mainly as a dispute with the West, demanding security guarantees, including a promise never to allow Ukraine to join NATO.
But the recognition of the separatist regions was accompanied by much stronger language against Ukraine, including personally from Putin.
In a TV address on Monday, Putin rambled across centuries of history to characterise the Ukrainian state as an artificial construct wrongly carved out of Russia by its enemies.
Some who saw the speech said they now feel menaced by a leader making decisions which no longer appear rational.
"In the case of Putin, this is not a struggle for money or power: It's about pride. Which means the mind is switched off. He can't stop, and he can't be stopped," said Lilia, 72, a pensioner in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia was heading down a path that would make it a global pariah, urging it not to "completely isolate yourself worldwide."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian cancelled separate meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin, floated by France at the start of the week, now seems unlikely.
Putin said he was always open to finding diplomatic solutions but that "the interests of Russia and the security of our citizens are unconditional for us."
- Additional reporting:
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