KYIV: A separatist leader in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization amid growing invasion fears.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russian separatist government in the Donetsk region, released a statement Saturday announcing a full troop mobilization and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices. The move comes amid a spike in violence along the line of contact between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in the region in recent days that fueled Western fears that Moscow could use it as a pretext for an invasion.
On Friday, separatist authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk announced a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly to neighboring Russia. Shortly after the evacuation effort started, several explosions hit the rebel-controlled areas.
The separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in 2014 and has killed over 14,000 people.