Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday that fire from a tank operated by Russia-backed separatists has been recorded in the east of the country. Mr Kuleba said: “These shells came from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, which are controlled by Russia.” Russia is “clearly the aggressor” in the reported shelling of a kindergarten in Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary has said.
Asked about whether the incident was an attempt to create a pretext for invasion, Liz Truss said: “We have been warning about the likelihood of a false flag operation. That is what we are seeing taking place.
“We are very clear the aggressor in this situation is Russia. We will continue to call out false flag operations.
“We will continue to call out their cyber attacks, and their attempts to undermine Ukraine which is a democratic sovereign country which Russia agreed to respect in various agreements.”
Ms Truss warned the West must unite in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine otherwise it will embolden authoritarians and autocrats around the world.
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She added: “the UK stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine in the face of the continuing Russian military build-up.
In a keynote speech, she said there was still time for Moscow to “step back from the brink” and to take the path of diplomacy.
“We are ready to talk,” she said.
“But we are very clear – if they decide to continue down the path of aggression, there will be massive consequences bringing Russia severe economic costs and pariah status.”
He warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be “mad” to invade because it would result in a “bloody and protracted conflict”.
Western allies fear Russia will carry out or support attacks in Ukraine which it will then falsely blame on the Kiev government in order to justify an invasion.
Despite Russian claims to be pulling units back to base following the conclusion of military exercises, the UK and US have claimed that thousands more troops have been deployed, along with supporting assets such as field hospitals and new bridges.
US President Joe Biden said he believed an invasion could happen “within the next several days”.
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