Ukraine’s security council on Wednesday approved plans to declare a state of national emergency as it mobilized its military reserve Wednesday and urged its citizens to leave Russian territory as Moscow sharpened its demands, increasing fears of all-out war.
The measure, which must be formally approved by parliament, requires stepped-up document and vehicle checks, among other measures, the council’s secretary Oleksiy Danilov said.
They would apply to all parts of Ukraine except for its two Russian-backed eastern separatist regions, where a deadly insurgency that has claimed more than 14,000 lives broke out in 2014.
British foreign minister Liz Truss said it was “likely” that Kremlin chief President Vladimir Putin would “follow through on his plan for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
US President Joe Biden announced tough new sanctions against Russia for “beginning” an invasion of Ukraine, but said there was still time to avoid war.
Japan and Australia followed suit early Wednesday with their own stringent penalties for Moscow and individuals connected with the aggression against Ukraine.
Biden announced what he called the “first tranche” of sanctions, including steps to starve Russia of financing and target financial institutions and the country’s “elites.”
But he left the door open to a final effort at diplomacy to avert a full-scale Russian invasion.
“There’s no question that Russia is the aggressor, so we’re clear-eyed about the challenges we’re facing,” the US leader said.
Biden’s address followed a wave of sanctions announced by Britain and the European Union, after Putin recognized the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk separatist regions this week.
Germany also announced it was halting certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia.
Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has put Ukraine’s more than 200,000 reservists on notice that they will receive summons to return to their units.
Ukraine also urged its approximately three million citizens living in Russia to leave.
Western capitals say Russia has amassed 150,000 troops in combat formations on Ukraine’s borders with Russia, Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea and on warships in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has around 200,000 military personnel and Wednesday’s call up could see up to 250,000 reservists aged between 18 and 60 receive their mobilisation papers.
Moscow’s total forces are much larger – around a million active duty personnel – and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Putin said that Moscow had recognised the independence of Ukraine’s separatist regions within their administrative borders, including territory still controlled by Kyiv – raising the specter of a clash.
He added that Western-brokered peace agreements on Ukraine’s conflict no longer existed and stressed that the deployment of Russian troops would “depend on the specific situation… on the ground.”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had “every indication” that Moscow “continues to plan for a full-scale attack on Ukraine.”