BBC Online :
Pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko has announced plans to recruit 100,000 men, as fighting with Ukrainian forces intensifies.
The rebels want to push government forces out of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and are trying to capture the key town of Debaltseve.
Dozens of people including civilians were killed in clashes and artillery fire at the weekend.
Attempts to agree a truce failed when rebel negotiators did not turn up.
A fragile ceasefire agreed in early September in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, collapsed last month when rebels stepped up their offensive on several Ukrainian positions and seized Donetsk airport.
Rebels were accused of carrying out an artillery attack on the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol which left 30 civilians dead.
Ukrainian government forces have also been blamed for deadly attacks on Donetsk city and other rebel-held areas last month in which dozens of civilians were killed.
“Mobilisation will start in 11 days’ time,” Mr Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Donetsk news agency.
However, the rebels’ ability to raise large numbers of forces is unclear.
The first question that springs to mind, after Alexander Zakharchenko’s mobilisation announcement, is where all these fighters will come from. The territory of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics had a pre-war population of a few million, and it is unclear how many people remain.
So it could be political bluster – an attempt to match rhetorically the Ukrainian government’s own mobilisation plans. However, it should be noted that Kiev plans to carry this out over the course of the year and not, like the separatists, in little more than a week.
But Mr Zakharchenko’s statement could indicate something much more serious. The rebels have already threatened a full-scale offensive, promising to push to the borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and possibly beyond. This most likely would require a huge number of forces. Many in Kiev are now concerned the Donetsk leader may be preparing the ground for major intervention from Ukraine’s neighbour, Russia.
Christopher Miller, a journalist based near Debaltseve, told the BBC he thought it was “very unlikely” the rebels would be able to mobilise 100,000 men.
Pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko has announced plans to recruit 100,000 men, as fighting with Ukrainian forces intensifies.
The rebels want to push government forces out of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and are trying to capture the key town of Debaltseve.
Dozens of people including civilians were killed in clashes and artillery fire at the weekend.
Attempts to agree a truce failed when rebel negotiators did not turn up.
A fragile ceasefire agreed in early September in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, collapsed last month when rebels stepped up their offensive on several Ukrainian positions and seized Donetsk airport.
Rebels were accused of carrying out an artillery attack on the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol which left 30 civilians dead.
Ukrainian government forces have also been blamed for deadly attacks on Donetsk city and other rebel-held areas last month in which dozens of civilians were killed.
“Mobilisation will start in 11 days’ time,” Mr Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Donetsk news agency.
However, the rebels’ ability to raise large numbers of forces is unclear.
The first question that springs to mind, after Alexander Zakharchenko’s mobilisation announcement, is where all these fighters will come from. The territory of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics had a pre-war population of a few million, and it is unclear how many people remain.
So it could be political bluster – an attempt to match rhetorically the Ukrainian government’s own mobilisation plans. However, it should be noted that Kiev plans to carry this out over the course of the year and not, like the separatists, in little more than a week.
But Mr Zakharchenko’s statement could indicate something much more serious. The rebels have already threatened a full-scale offensive, promising to push to the borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and possibly beyond. This most likely would require a huge number of forces. Many in Kiev are now concerned the Donetsk leader may be preparing the ground for major intervention from Ukraine’s neighbour, Russia.
Christopher Miller, a journalist based near Debaltseve, told the BBC he thought it was “very unlikely” the rebels would be able to mobilise 100,000 men.
