Pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists announced on Saturday that they had uncovered a Ukrainian plan to regain control over the Donetsk region, which has previously declared independence from Ukraine. The separatists claimed they discovered a plan devised by Kyiv to seize the territories they control in eastern Ukraine by force and presented a man they said was a Ukrainian spy. Authorities in the Ukrainian capital quickly dismissed the alleged plan as fake and ignored the espionage claims, but such reports contribute to escalating tensions, according to Reuters.
Concerns are growing in Kyiv and the West about a potential fabricated operation in eastern Ukraine that Russia might use as a pretext for launching an attack. Russia, which has amassed troops near Ukraine, denied having plans for an invasion and refused to discuss any fake operations. However, it stated that it is concerned about the situation and that separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine started a mass evacuation process on Friday, citing fears of a Ukrainian assault.
Ukrainian authorities deny planning any kind of aggression and are worried about increasing attempts to create a pretext for a Russian invasion. The separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic stated on Saturday that they had discovered a plan to "cleanse" the Russia-leaning region of Russian speakers as part of a five-day operation to take control of the area by force.
In an interview broadcast on Russia's state television channel one, a man who the separatists claimed they had detained in Donetsk stated that he assisted Ukraine in blowing up a separatist leader's jeep the night before and that he had smuggled weapons and explosives. The man added, "I was recruited in 2018." He stated that the person who trained him advised him to stay away from high-rise residential buildings in Donetsk as artillery would target them, and he would be putting himself at risk.
