Rhetoric builds over Ukraine tensions with Blinken in Europe

Bloomberg

Ukraine and Russia ratcheted up their rhetoric as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Brussels to discuss the escalating tensions with his European partners.
Meeting with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia, which has amassed troops near the two countries’ border, is threatening to destroy his country.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia poses no threat and urged Ukraine’s Western allies to stop it carrying out “provocative actions.”
The region is on edge over a Russian military buildup in recent weeks around the conflict that began after President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.
With Putin’s intentions unclear, the fear is that even a low-level skirmish could reignite more serious fighting. The war over the status of two breakaway regions in Ukraine’s east has already cost more than 13,000 lives.
“Russia has to understand that Ukraine belongs to the world of democracies, to the Western world — this is the very clear message Nato can send to Russia,” Kuleba said. “Ukraine isn’t part of the Russian world and will never be considered as such.”
Nato joined the Group of Seven nations and the European Union in calling for Russia to
de-escalate. The G-7 and the
EU said earlier that they’re “deeply concerned” about Russia’s build-up of forces.

“These large-scale troop movements, without prior notification, represent threatening and destabilising activities,” they said in a joint statement. “We call on Russia to cease its provocations and to immediately de-escalate tensions in line with its international obligations.”
The Kremlin, which accuses its neighbor of planning a new military offensive to take back the Russian-speaking Donbas region, on Tuesday called the U.S.’s deployment of warships to the nearby Black Sea in solidarity with Ukraine “extremely provocative.” Blinken warned at the weekend of consequences if Russia acts recklessly or aggressively.
“Any threat only reinforces our conviction that we’re conducting the right policy,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters. “We’re just defending our interests and the interests of our citizens, the Russian-speaking population. We’ll continue to defend them.”
Despite Ukraine repeatedly rejecting any suggestion it’s planning a new military operation, Russian state television — which dominates the airwaves at home and in Donbas — is playing up the chances of an attack. Confusion continues to surround Putin’s goals in the region, with the threat of more Western sanctions growing if he makes a move to tighten control over the breakaway regions.
Diplomacy to head off a resumption of large-scale fighting that was ended by a 2015 peace accord is continuing apace. Aside from Blinken’s meetings in the Belgian capital, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his opposite number in Berlin that the U.S. will station an additional 500 troops in Germany in a message “that we support NATO in the fullest extent.”
But without the prospect of a military response by the U.S. and its allies, Russia won’t be deterred from moving against Ukraine, according to James Sherr, a senior fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia, who’s advised Western governments on Russia’s defense strategy.
“Sanctions don’t offer any significant deterrent,” he said. “The incentive to use military force rises when they perceive their opponent is weak and there’s no one standing behind them.”
Concern over fresh sanctions did manage to send the ruble to its lowest level against the dollar since November last week, though it gained on Tuesday. The tensions are taking a toll on Ukrainian assets too, with the yield on the government’s dollar bond due 2026 hitting its highest since November.