The EU and Ukraine have rung the alarm bells at the movement of Russian troops on the eastern parts of Ukraine, referred to as the Donbas region.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia had amassed around 100,000 troops at the border.
The region is already under the control of Pro-Russian separatists, but the EU apprehends a full-scale Russian invasion and annexation.
The EU is also actively engaged with Poland’s government to find a solution for migrant buildup at the Poland-Belarus border, which it says is a hybrid attack on the EU by Alexander Lukashenko.
Donbas
Donbas region of Ukraine includes Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (Oblasts are Administrative divisions in the former Soviet Union).
After the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, unrest also brewed in the eastern oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk, which declared independence and named themselves Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic.
The EU and Ukraine alleged the presence of Russian troops in the region.
Russia has even issued around 600,000 passports to the people from the region and has all but declared it a part of Russia. Most trade restrictions between Russia and Donbas too were lifted.
Donbas is also home to huge coal reserves.
A ceasefire agreement called ‘Minsk Protocol’ signed by LPR, DPR, Ukraine, and Russia is in effect to prevent violence.
The reaction from the international community
Former US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, called the situation ‘abandoning our allies.’
Russia has dismissed the reports of a possible invasion. The country responded that the movement of their troops is of no concern to other nations.