The U.S. is expressing growing alarm over reports that Russian military forces are deploying along their border with Ukraine, as a largely frozen conflict has heated up again in recent months between the Kyiv government and separatist forces in the east strongly back by Moscow.
Top Biden administration officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley have all spoken this week with their Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the crisis and offer support, State Department spokesman Ned Price.
“We are aware of Ukrainian military reports concerning Russian troop movements on Ukraine’s borders,” Mr. Price said Thursday. “We are discussing our concerns about that increase in tensions and cease-fire violations and regional tensions with NATO allies.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran said Mr. Austin told him that the U.S. “will not leave Ukraine alone and will not allow the realization of aggressive aspirations of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine.” Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that Mr. Austin had made the call.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman told reporters in Moscow Thursday said it was Ukraine that was the aggressor and that recent Russian troop deployments near the conflict zone are an internal matter.
Pentagon officials said they are closely monitoring the fighting, the latest in a grinding seven-year civil war that has already left some 11,000 fighters on both sides dead and even more civilian casualties. Mr. Kirby noted that the U.S. has supplied more than $2 billion in military aid to the Kyiv government since the fighting began.
In one of the conflict’s deadliest engagements in recent days, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another injured on March 26 during fighting with Russian-backed forces. According to the Kyiv Post, the separatists opened fire with 82-millimeter mortars, automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.
The latest fighting effectively ends a June 2020 cease-fire that had been steadily deteriorating in recent months amid deadlocked negotiations between the parties. Ukraine has accused Russian military personnel of committing more than a thousand violations of the cease-fire agreement, while Russia says its forces are not involved in the fighting.
“For us, every wound, every loss is a personal responsibility and a heavy burden,” Mr. Taran said.
Recent escalations on the battlefield are likely a signal by the Kremlin to the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to seek a peace deal and get European governments to pressure Kyiv as well, said John Hardie, a research manager with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“The Kremlin is likely trying to pressure Ukraine and President Zelenskiy to negotiate on terms favorable to Russia, and to pressure Berlin and Paris to lean on Kyiv to do so,” Mr. Hardie said. “Putin may also want to test the resolve of the new Biden administration and pressure Germany to rewind the tougher stance it has taken toward Russia in recent months.”
But, an escalation of hostilities in the region is certainly possible, Mr. Hardie said. It would likely be carried out by Russian proxies designed to trigger a Ukrainian retaliation that would justify additional actions from Moscow.
“The U.S. and its allies should keep a close eye on this space and deliver a clear, unified message to Moscow that military escalation would be unacceptable and result in a marked increase in Western economic pressure,” he said. “Berlin and Paris, in particular, should remember that Russia — not Kyiv — is the one responsible for this conflict and that any decisions about Ukraine should be made with Ukraine.”
Russia again this week denied any involvement in the fighting, instead accusing Kyiv of engaging in “provocations and provocative steps.”
“The Russian Federation transfers the armed forces on its soil as it wants to. This should not concern anyone and this is not posing any threat to anyone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency TASS. “Moscow is taking all the necessary measures to ensure security of its frontiers.”
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army-Europe, said France and Germany — both of which are involved in the stalled peace process seeking an end to the fighting — should be pressing the Kremlin to pull back.
“This could be the Kremlin testing the new [Biden] administration,” Lt. Gen. Hodges, now with the Center for European Policy Analysis, said in a Twitter message. “… Significant logistical build-ups (fuel, ammunition and especially field hospitals) are an indicator of intent.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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