Russia blames Ukraine for military action in Donbas

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the escalation in the conflict between the two neighbours as President Vladimir Putin officially ordered the deployment of Russia’s military in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

“The root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself, who for many years were sabotaging its obligations under the Minsk package of measures,” Vassily Nebenzia, Russian UN Ambassador, said.

He said this at an emergency Security Council meeting in New York, as he informed the council of Kremlin’s decision to deploy troops in the area.

Nebenzya went on to justify Moscow’s military operation under article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows for “self-defence”.

Ukrainian UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, who spoke after Nebenzya, told the meeting that Putin had declared war on his country.

“When I was coming here an hour ago or so, I was intending to ask the Russian ambassador to confirm on the record that the Russian troops will not start firing at Ukrainians today and go ahead with the offensive.$

“It became useless 48 minutes ago because about 48 minutes ago your president declared war on Ukraine,” Kyslytsya said.