BRUSSELS — Russia accused NATO of trying to destabilize northern Europe as the alliance’s chief said the latest aid convoy for Ukraine was another sign of Russian disrespect for its neighbor’s border.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization military drills and its transfer of warplanes capable of carrying nuclear weapons to the Baltic states are a “reality which is extremely negative,” Interfax reported Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksey Meshkov as saying Monday.
“They are trying to shake up the most stable region in the world, the north of Europe,” Meshkov said. “In this regard, Russia’s leadership is and will be taking all steps to ensure the security of Russia and its citizens.”
Ukraine and its allies blame Russia for stoking the conflict in the east of Ukraine, which has killed more than 4,300 people and left at least 10,000 wounded. The government in Moscow denies involvement. After delivering more than 1,200 metric tons of cargo to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions without consulting the government in Kiev Sunday, Russia may soon dispatch a ninth aid convoy, the Tass news service reported, citing the Emergencies Ministry.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia to improve the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine by stopping its violations of a cease-fire agreement that it signed in Minsk, Belarus, on Sept. 5.
“Russia is not doing that,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels Monday. “Russia is fueling the conflict by providing support, equipment and other kinds of support for the separatists and thereby undermining, violating the cease-fire.”
Government troops repelled an attack by rebels and Russian special forces at the Donetsk airport today, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Facebook. The airport’s main terminal, finished two years ago before Ukraine co-hosted the 2012 Euro Championships, has been almost completely destroyed since it was first stormed by rebels in May.
A truce was later negotiated with Russia to halt fire in the area around the airport, Ukraine’s military said in a statement.
The situation in the city of Donetsk was “extremely tense” overnight, with 14 civilians wounded by shelling that also damaged buildings and infrastructure, the city council said on its website. Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in the past 24 hours, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in Kiev today.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country won’t bow to outside pressure.
“Ukrainians have chosen the European way,” Poroshenko told German television channel ARD in remarks posted on his website yesterday. The key challenge for the nation remains resisting aggression and protecting its territorial integrity, he said.
The United Nations estimates that more than a million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighboring countries as a result of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, with 5.2 million still living in areas engulfed by the conflict.
