Today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on NATO to speed up his country's entry into that alliance, in order to send the "right signal" to Russia, after which the Kremlin assessed that this would intensify the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
"NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbas", the territory in eastern Ukraine where conflicts with pro-Russian separatists continue, Zelensky wrote on Twitter after a telephone conversation with the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, stressing that "the Action Plan for membership will be the right signal Russia".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed doubt that NATO membership will solve Ukraine's internal problems.
"From our point of view, it will worsen the situation," Peskov told reporters.
Zelenskiy's appeal came amid heightened Russian-Ukrainian tensions, with Kiev accusing Russia of amassing troops and equipment on its northern and eastern borders, as well as on the Crimean peninsula.
In a conversation with the Ukrainian president, Stoltenberg expressed "deep concern about Russian military activities in Ukraine and the surrounding area."
In December, Ukraine expressed hope to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in 2021, a preliminary step to NATO entry.
Ukraine accuses Moscow of increasing its military presence near the border
Ukraine announced today that Russia continues to strengthen its military presence near the Ukrainian border and is violating the ceasefire regime in the demarcation zone, thus endangering the peace process.
"Russia is actively increasing its military presence in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as in areas near Ukraine, and the number of cases of violations of the ceasefire regime on the demarcation line in the conflict zone in Donbass is increasing, according to the statement of the Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia delivered to the media.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "since the end of March, Russia has been holding 28 battalion tactical groups along the state border of Ukraine and in Crimea, each of which has 600 people. In the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, there is a Russian occupying army, which consists of has about 28.000 people, and which operates with the support of the Russian regular army in command positions from the personnel army of the Russian armed forces," it is stated.
The announcement of the Ukrainian embassy also adds that "Russia's actions to escalate the conflict are accompanied by a daily active and cynical disinformation campaign" by Russian media platforms and institutions abroad, including in Serbia.
That campaign aims to discredit the Ukrainian side and justify Moscow's military aggression, it is added and emphasized that Ukraine continues to prioritize the political-diplomatic way to resolve the crisis and calls on the Russian side to immediately stop actions aimed at worsening the security situation in the Russian zone - the Ukrainian armed conflict and to immediately return to the consistent implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Bonus video:
