The announcement came as a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to neighbouring Russia was underway.
Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have ordered a full military mobilisation, a move that comes amid a spike in violence in the war-torn region that the West fears could be used as a pretext for an invasion by neighbouring Russia.
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.
Denis Pushilin said in a video statement that he had signed a decree on mobilization and called on men “able to hold a weapon in their hands” to come to military commissariats.
As the Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin will oversee major military drills along Ukraine’s borders on Saturday, the head of the pro-Russian separatist government in the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, released a statement announcing a war footing and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices.
The announcement came as a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to neighbouring Russia was underway.
US President Joe Biden said Friday he was now “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and assault the capital.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said a soldier was killed in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page that it had recorded 19 ceasefire violations by the separatists since the start of the day compared with 66 cases over the previous 24 hours. Separatists opened fire on more than 20 settlements, using heavy artillery, which have been prohibited by Minsk agreements, the military said.
The separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in 2014 and has killed over 14,000 people.