Home

Russia’s Putin says situation in Donbass ‘looks like genocide’

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region “looks like genocide” during a virtual meeting with his human rights council.

Speaking on the same day, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Kyiv’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, Putin said “Russophobia” was a first step toward “genocide.”

Ukraine accuses Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops in preparation for a possible large scale military offensive, raising fears that a simmering conflict in Donbass could erupt into open war between the neighbours.

Russia denies planning any attack but accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilising behaviour, and has sought security guarantees against NATO’s eastward expansion.

Ukraine rejects any such guarantees as illegitimate and has sought reassurances that no deals about its future would be decided without its involvement.

Ukraine’s ties with Russia collapsed in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow-backed forces seized territory in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv wants back.

Kyiv says some 14 000 people have been killed in fighting since then.

 

Author

MOST READ