Ukraine prepares to impose a state of emergency and call up reservists
Ukraine is preparing to impose a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday and ask its citizens to leave Russia, amid growing signs that the country is moving closer to an all-out war. with its northern neighbour.
Kyiv’s move to impose an emergency rule comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky summoned reservists and his administration begged the West to strike Russia with even tougher sanctions.
The measures underscore the gravity of the situation facing Kyiv after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian “peacekeeping” forces to enter Ukraine’s eastern breakaway regions. Donetsk and Luhansk.
America announced sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, accusing Putin of starting an “invasion” into Ukraine. These moves follow similar moves from the EU and the UK, which adopted the measures as part of the first wave of economic containment against Russia.
But Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, urged the West not to delay tougher sanctions if it wanted to prevent Moscow from “further aggression”.
“The first decisive steps were taken yesterday, and we are grateful for them. Now the pressure needs to increase to stop Putin. Hit his economy and his minions. Hit more. Hit strongly. Visit now,” Kuleba tweeted.
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, announced on Wednesday that additional defensive weapons had been sent to Ukraine “due to increasingly threatening behavior” by Russia.
Ukraine’s president called for calm and said he did not believe Russia would launch a major attack, although he said preparations were being made should an attack occur.
Zelensky said that the deployment of the reserve troops was not a mass mobilization, adding: “We must strengthen the readiness of the Ukrainian army for any changes that may occur in the environment. combat. We are talking specifically about citizens assigned to the operational reserve.”
The state of emergency is expected to be passed by parliament on Wednesday. The powers will fall under martial law, which will put Zelensky in charge of all decisions, but will allow measures to be taken by special committees consisting of government agencies central and regional.
The emergency order will apply to all of Ukraine except Donetsk and Luhansk regions that have been under separate regimes since 2014 when Russia instigated proxy wars of secession in the two regions after annexing Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
National security chief Oleksiy Danilov said that emergency measures would include strengthening security procedures in public places, restricting and checking vehicles, and checking documents.
“These are precautions taken to preserve calm in the country, to keep our economy running, to keep our country running,” he said.
“The main goal of the Russian Federation is to achieve their goals through domestic unrest,” he added. “Today’s decision was taken to prevent this.”
Separately, the Ukrainian government on Wednesday asked its citizens to avoid traveling to Russia, while Ukrainian citizens residing in Russia should “leave its territory immediately”.