BERLIN – Europe is on the brink of war. Russia and its proxies continue to escalate tensions in eastern Ukraine. On Friday 18 February separatist authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians from the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the two Russian-backed breakaway statelets in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Metadata from videos ordering the move indicates that they were filmed two days before they were released, despite references by one separatist leader to events “today, on 18 February”.
Separatist authorities baselessly accused Ukrainian forces of planning a massive offensive to retake the Donbas. Some Russian MPs have publicly claimed that a Ukrainian “offensive” might begin today (Monday 21 February).
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