A member of the separatists' parliament in Donetsk tells Interfax that they are not planning to attack Kyiv:
One of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic on Wednesday denied that the DPR is planning an offensive against Ukrainian military forces but accused the Ukrainian army of using "prohibited types of armaments" and of "unceasing bombardments of peaceful cities."
"The Ukrainian military continues shelling peaceful populated areas in the DPR and all the time tries to provoke us, not to mention that the positions from which this shelling comes are located on our territory. We, for our part, comply with the Minsk agreement and don't take any offensive actions, but we reserve the right to wide-scale defense," Miroslav Rudenko, deputy chairman of the DPR parliament, told Interfax.
He added that the DPR was currently regrouping its forces. "Kyiv has repeatedly said it is planning an offensive operation. We must be ready to rebuff it," he said.
He accused the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe of anti-DPR bias. "For some reason, the OSCE can only see imaginary violations [of the ceasefire] that we commit and watches us redeploy our armaments. At the same time, it doesn't pay any attention to the use of cluster ammunition and other prohibited types of armaments" by the Ukrainian military or to the latter's "unceasing bombardments of peaceful cities," he said.
UN warns Ukraine could return to "full-scale fighting," our news desk reports:
The United Nations Security Council has met in emergency session on Ukraine as UN officials warned of a possible return to “full-scale fighting” in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The November 12 Security Council meeting came hours after NATO’s top commander in Europe said “multiple columns” of Russian tanks, artillery, and antiaircraft units had crossed from Russia into eastern Ukraine since November 10.
Russia says there is no evidence its armed forces are in eastern Ukraine.
There was no proposed UN resolution on November 12 against Russia, which has veto powers on the Security Council.
U.S. Ambassador Samatha Power told the Security Council on November 12 that Russia “talks of peace, but it keeps fueling war” in eastern Ukraine.
International monitors say they’ve seen unmarked military forces bolstering separatist positions in recent days.
OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in Brussels on November 12 that video from OSCE monitor drones showed "nondescript militias wearing no identification [fighting] on the side of the rebels" and firing antiaircraft weapons at the drones.
He said the OSCE drones, meant to monitor a September 5 cease-fire deal, also are being subjected to "high-end military-grade jamming” from an unknown location. (Reuters, AP, AFP, and TASS)