Hundreds of artillery shells exploded along the line of contact between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists Sunday, and thousands of people evacuated eastern Ukraine as fears grew that instability in the region would trigger a Russian invasion.
Western leaders warned that Russia was preparing to attack its neighbor, surrounded on three sides by some 150,000 troops, fighter jets and Russian military equipment. Russia held military exercises on Saturday in neighboring Belarus and has ongoing naval exercises in the Black Sea.
The United States and many European countries have been accusing Russia for months of trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive and immediate sanctions if it does.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose a place where the two leaders could meet to try to resolve the crisis. Russia has denied having plans to invade.
“Ukraine will continue to follow only the diplomatic path for the sake of a peaceful resolution,” Zelenskyy said Saturday at an international security conference in Munich, Germany. There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.
A senior European Union official, Charles Michel, said on Sunday that “the big question remains: does the Kremlin want dialogue?”
“We cannot forever offer an olive branch while Russia conducts missile tests and continues to build up troops,” Michel, president of the European Council, told the Munich Security Conference. “One thing is certain: if there is a new military aggression, we will react with huge sanctions.”
Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization on Saturday and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued some 700,000 passports to residents of rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are in danger could be used as a justification for military action.
In a new sign of fears that a war could break out within days, Germany and Austria told their citizens to leave Ukraine. German airline Lufthansa has canceled flights to the capital Kiev and to Odessa, a Black Sea port that could be a key invasion target.