West accuses Russia of trying to create pretext for war after shelling in east Ukraine

Joe Biden and Boris Johnson accuse Moscow of creating a ‘false flag’ after attack on preschool in Donbass

Kiev and its western allies have accused Moscow of trying to create a pretext for war after reports of shelling across the frontline in Ukraine’s long-standing conflict with pro-Russia rebels.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the pro-Russian forces had bombed a kindergarten in the Donbass separatist region, in what he called a “big provocation”.

Video footage released by Ukrainian police showed a hole through a brick wall in a room scattered with debris and children’s toys.

The Ukrainian military said no children were harmed but some media outlets have reported that up to three adults suffered concussions.

The Kremlin said Moscow was “seriously concerned” about reports of an escalation after the separatists had earlier on Thursday accused Ukrainian government forces of opening fire on their territory four times in the past 24 hours.

US President Joe Biden said Washington believed there was a “very high risk” of a Russian invasion of Ukraine in the coming days, and said it was likely that Moscow was “engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also accused Russia of creating a “false flag operation” designed to discredit Ukraine by attacking the preschool.

“We fear very much that that is a thing we will see more of over the next few days,” Mr Johnson said.

Nato said it was likewise concerned that Russia was trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against Ukraine.

“There is still no clarity, no certainty about the Russian intentions”, said the alliance’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

“They have enough troops, enough capabilities to launch a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine with very little or no warning time,” he told reporters at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels. “That is what makes the situation so dangerous.”

Moscow denies Western accusations it is planning to invade its neighbour and said this week it was pulling back some of the more than 100,000 troops it has sent to the area.

Kremlin officials and Russian media have even gone as far as mocking western news outlets for incorrectly forecasting the day Ukraine would be invaded.

However, the US and Nato have said that Moscow is not de-escalating but building up its troop presence at the border.

Members of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service keep watch at the Kliusy checkpoint near the frontier with Russia in the Chernihiv region (REUTERS)

What’s more, Maxar Technologies, a private US company that has been tracking the build-up, said satellite images showed that, while Russia has pulled back some military equipment from near Ukraine, other hardware has arrived.

Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had already warned that a concentration of additional Ukrainian forces near the Donbass frontline created a risk of provocations. Kiev has denied massing extra troops in the area.

The self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, one of two rebel regions, said Ukrainian forces had used mortars, grenade launchers and a machine gun in four separate incidents on Thursday.

“Armed forces of Ukraine have crudely violated the ceasefire regime, using heavy weapons, which, according to the Minsk agreements, should be withdrawn,” the pro-Russian separatists said in a statement.

Referring to the rebels, Ukraine's military said: “With particular cynicism, the Russian occupation troops shelled the village of Stanytsa Lugansk in the Luhansk region. As a result of the use of heavy artillery weapons by terrorists, shells hit the kindergarten building. According to preliminary data, two civilians received shell shock.”