Kremlin-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine announces civilian evacuations to Russia as threat of invasion looms

• A Kremlin-backed separatist leader said civilians in eastern Ukraine will be evacuated to Russia.
• Separatist leaders have blamed recent shelling on Ukrainian aggression in the country's east.

A Kremlin-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine announced on Friday that civilians in the area will be evacuated to Russia.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said women, children, and elderly people would be evacuated first, Reuters reported.

"As of today, February 18, a mass centralized evacuation of the population to the Russian Federation has been organized," Pushilin said, according to the report.

Pushilin claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will order an offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, BuzzFeed News correspondent Christopher Miller reported on Friday.

Leonid Pasechnik, the separatist head of the Luhansk People's Republic, also ordered the evacuation of civilians to Russia, blaming Ukrainian shelling.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denied the allegations, and said Ukraine "does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas."

"We categorically refute Russian disinformation reports on Ukraine's alleged offensive operations or acts of sabotage in chemical production facilities," he wrote on Twitter.

Kuleba added: "We are fully committed to diplomatic conflict resolution only."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Thursday that Russia may "manufacture a pretext" for an invasion of Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed Blinken's warnings, and said on Thursday the alliance is concerned "that Russia is trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against Ukraine."

Michael Kofman, the director for Russia studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, wrote on Twitter that Pushilin's evacuation orders are "clear indicators of a pretext being constructed" for a Russian military operation.

"Dramatic escalation in shelling along the line of contact in Donbas. DNR announcing evacuation to Rostov, due to 'imminent attack,' a foreboding step if carried out," he wrote.

An international security monitor told the UN on Thursday that there have been hundreds of explosions recorded in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region recently.

Between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, roughly 500 explosions were recorded, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Late Thursday morning, that number dropped to around 30.

The US Embassy in Ukraine blamed the explosions on Russian "shelling."

President Joe Biden on Thursday warned there is a "very high" risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine in the next few days.

His comments came after Russia claimed that it reduced its troop presence along the border; both the US and NATO have firmly denied the supposed withdrawal is actually happening.