Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says he has received information “in the last several hours” suggesting the threat of direct Russian military intervention in Ukraine is “higher than it was several days ago.”
With tens of thousands of Russian troops near Ukraine's border and fears mounting rapidly of a possible military move by Moscow, Reuters quotes a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman warns that Russia must avoid any action that would lead to further escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
Reuters video of Donetsk rebels defiant amid the current government offensive to retake separatist-controlled areas in that region and Luhansk. The pro-Russian fighters vow to fight to the end.
New Levada Center poll shows a 20-year high in anti-Western sentiment among Russians, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. Some 74 percent of respondents regard relations with the United States as "mostly bad" or "very bad," compared with 60 percent vis-a-vis Europe.
Russians' views of Ukrainians are also suffering, with around 55 percent viewing them negatively. About two-thirds of respondents thought Ukrainian authorities were to blame for worsening relations, and just 8 percent thought the blame falls equally on both sides.
AFP quotes the city council in separatist-held Donetsk as saying that there were no casualties in an overnight air strike on that city.
From ITAR-TASS:
Russia's Airborne Forces (VDV) personnel is planned to be doubled - up to 72,000 troops, a source in the Russian General Staff said on Wednesday.
According to the high-ranking official, these plans are to be implemented in 2019.