Ukraine PM demands ‘full battle readiness’
18 Sep 2014 11:24 PM GMT
Arseny Yatseniuk said: ‘Russia will not give us peace so I am asking the defence minister for full battle readiness.’
Yatseniuk said enacting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan did not mean ‘relaxing the work of the defence and interior ministries’.
He added: ‘Full readiness (is required). We can’t believe anyone, especially the Russians.’ He spoke as Russia’s defence minister called for the deployment of reinforcements to Crimea and southern Russia, claiming a response was needed to the build-up of ‘foreign’ forces nearby.
Sergei Shoigu said it was a ‘priority’ to deploy a ‘full and self-reliant group of troops in the direction of Crimea’.
Ukraine’s prime minister warned the country should be ready for battle.
According to Russian news agencies, he said the ‘situation in Ukraine has sharply worsened and the foreign military presence has increased very close to our border’. The fragility of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has been exposed again by reports of a deadly rocket attack in Donetsk.
A journalist working for Associated Press reported seeing the remains of what appeared to be a Grad rocket that had hit the building in the north of the city, where fighting over the government-controlled airport has caught some residential areas in the crossfire.
One body was said to be visible at the scene, although it was unclear if there were more casualties.
Resident Alexander Dudnik said: ‘They started to shoot at each other and a shell hit a gas pipeline. Then there was a strong fire, flats started to burn.
Yatseniuk said enacting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan did not mean ‘relaxing the work of the defence and interior ministries’.
He added: ‘Full readiness (is required). We can’t believe anyone, especially the Russians.’ He spoke as Russia’s defence minister called for the deployment of reinforcements to Crimea and southern Russia, claiming a response was needed to the build-up of ‘foreign’ forces nearby.
Sergei Shoigu said it was a ‘priority’ to deploy a ‘full and self-reliant group of troops in the direction of Crimea’.
Ukraine’s prime minister warned the country should be ready for battle.
According to Russian news agencies, he said the ‘situation in Ukraine has sharply worsened and the foreign military presence has increased very close to our border’. The fragility of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has been exposed again by reports of a deadly rocket attack in Donetsk.
A journalist working for Associated Press reported seeing the remains of what appeared to be a Grad rocket that had hit the building in the north of the city, where fighting over the government-controlled airport has caught some residential areas in the crossfire.
One body was said to be visible at the scene, although it was unclear if there were more casualties.
Resident Alexander Dudnik said: ‘They started to shoot at each other and a shell hit a gas pipeline. Then there was a strong fire, flats started to burn.
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