Earlier today, the region in eastern Ukraine under the control of pro-Russian separatists experienced what the Ukrainian government is calling 29 cease-fire violations by the separatists:
"Separatists rained down artillery, mortar rounds and other munitions at the front, the military said in a statement posted to social media. In the village of Stanytsia Luhanska near Luhansk, an artillery strike blew a hole through a kindergarten building. Three adults suffered concussions, officials said. No children were reported injured.
The Ukrainian military said the village was struck by 32 artillery rounds.
It was not immediately clear whether the reported shelling in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine amounted to more than the usual flare-ups in an eight-year war there, but the United States has warned that Russia could instigate an incident as a pretext for an attack." (our emphasis)
This may be the start of provocations initiated by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's Luhansk and Donbas regions that autocratic Russian thug Vladimir Putin would use as a justification for invading Ukraine again to "protect" ethnic Russians. Putin claimed in a press conference on Tuesday that "genocide" was happening against ethnic Russians in that region, building a pretext for invasion. Today, President Biden appeared to support the belief that this could be the pretext for invasion, as reported above in the WaPo:
“We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in,” Biden said before departing on trip to Ohio. “Every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.” He added that “my sense is it will happen in the next several days.”
The U.S. has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council later today in order for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to address the deepening concern that Russia is about to launch a military strike against Ukraine.
(photo: A kindergarden building in Stanytsia Luhanska showing results of pro-Russian separatist shelling. Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation)
