Pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine plan a ‘general mobilisation’ under which thousands of men will be called up, one of their main leaders was quoted as saying on Monday.
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, had said that the call-up would mobilise as many as 100,000 men. It was unclear, however, how the recruitment would be handled.
“There will be general mobilisation in the (separatist) Donetsk People’s Republic in 10 days’ time, we plan on mobilising up to 100,000 men,” he said.
Ukraine is also mobilising more troops: some 78,000 persons are to be called to active duty.
On Saturday Minsk hosted a meeting of the Trilateral contact group on Ukraine. Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego, representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics, attended the meeting that did not yield any tangible result.
“They were not ready to discuss the performance of the agreement on ceasefire and pulling out heavy weapons,” the OSCE reports.
“They demanded that the Ukrainian president issue an order on unilateral ceasefire, and threatened to resume full-scale fighting along the frontline if this ultimatum is not met,” Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s ex-President and representative at the talks, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
