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Boris Johnson says Ukraine kindergarten shelling is false-flag operation
The Guardian reported, Boris Johnson has claimed the shelling of a nursery school in the Donbas region of Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists was a “false-flag operation” aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian government.
According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) there were “multiple shelling incidents” on Thursday morning across the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
Three people were injured in the attack in the city of Stanytsia Luhanska, which blew a hole through the wall of a nursery.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, accused the Russian side of “provocative shelling”.
Speaking on a visit to RAF Waddington, in Lincolnshire, the UK prime minister said: “Today, as I’m sure you’ve already picked up, a kindergarten was shelled in what we are taking to be – well, we know – was a false-flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians, designed to create a pretext, a spurious provocation for Russian action.
“We fear very much that that is the kind of thing we will see more of over the next few days.”
A “false-flag” incident is one in which its origin is disguised, usually in an attempt to provoke retaliation.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, had said earlier that shelling across the border indicated Moscow was carrying out “false-flag operations”, though he did not point specifically to the nursery shelling.
Liz Truss: Vladimir Putin could drag out Ukraine crisis for months
Johnson said he would be travelling to Munich for the European security conference this weekend, “to talk about what we are going to do to unify the west”.
He said the UK was prepared to impose tough sanctions on Russia.
“There is still time for the Putin regime to step back. There is still time to avoid a catastrophe; a catastrophe for Russia, a catastrophe for Ukraine and for the world.
Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine accuse government forces of mortar attacks
“If Russia were so mad as to invade, I don’t think people should imagine that this would be a brief business. This would be a bloody and protracted conflict in which, I’m afraid, there will be many casualties, and including many Russian casualties.”
Western security officials have been monitoring the shelling in Donbas closely, saying it was “the sort of provocation that has the potential to escalate”, while also stressing that exchanges of fire across the line of control in eastern Ukraine were not uncommon.
Boris Johnson sees diplomatic opening with Russia, but intelligence not encouraging
One official said similar hostilities had been seen previously and it was not uncommon for issues to “flash up and go away”. Another concluded: “I’m not saying this is a pretext, but I didn’t say it wasn’t a pretext.”
Source: theguardian
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