All eyes are on the
Russian-Ukrainian border as heavily-armed Kremlin forces line up
for “military
exercises.”
The New York Times writes
that today Russia’s “Defense Ministry… outlined what was
described as intensive training of units involving artillery
batteries, assault helicopters and at least 10,000 soldiers,”
noting that this directly contradicts their denial of troop
movements yesterday.
The head of Ukraine’s National Security
asserts that there are actually 80,000 troops.
At a meeting with President Obama today, interim Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk assured that
Ukraine “will fight for [its] freedom… and never surrender.”
Nevertheless, interim President Oleksandr
Turchynov stated today
that Ukraine will not use force against Russia, because it would
make “containing the situation… impossible.”
Significantly, the three regions in which Russian forces are
gathering are
not at all near the Crimean peninsula, which is in the south,
but situated along Ukraine’s eastern border. This raises
concerns that Russia may stage an even more aggressive invasion
on top of the 25,000 troops already occupying Crimea.
This weekend, Crimea will face a referendum on whether or not
the region will join the Russian Federation. According to Reuters,
neither of the two options on the ballot would actually allow
Crimea to retain its current status as part of Ukraine. The U.S.
and E.U. refuse to acknowledge the vote, asserting that the
military occupation prevents any legitimate opportunity to
dissent.
Secretary of State John Kerry issued a specious warning about it
today. “There will be a response of some kind to the
referendum itself. If there is no sign [from Russia] of any
capacity to respond to this issue … there will be a very serious
series of steps on Monday,” he said
at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. Kerry will meet
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tomorrow in London,
according to the Washington Examiner.
Read more Reason coverage of Ukraine here.
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