West braces for false-flag operations by Kremlin as fighting in eastern Ukraine escalates

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he had "an urgent conversation” with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron.

He and Macron “discussed the need and possible ways of immediate de-escalation & political-diplomatic settlement,” Zelensky wrote.

In a tweet, Zelensky said he informed Macron “about the aggravation on the frontline, our losses.” They also spoke about the Saturday incident in which Ukrainian politicians and international journalists came under mortar fire as they toured the front lines with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

LVIV, Ukraine — A top European diplomat said Saturday that talks aimed at defusing the growing tensions in eastern Ukraine did not take place because “some participants linked their attendance to certain political preconditions.”

The meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group was canceled for the second time in two days. The group includes officials from Russia, Ukraine and the office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) tasked with finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized NATO on Saturday, accusing the organization of fumbling as tensions between Russia and the West rise over Ukraine.

“If NATO keeps expanding eastward, is it conducive to maintaining peace and stability in Europe?” he said at a major security conference in Munich. “Since the Cold War is long gone, NATO, a product of the Cold War, needs to adapt itself to the changing circumstances.”

The comments came after NATO leaders described China as being a “systemic challenge” and a security risk at their annual security conference in Brussels. China accused NATO at the time of spreading “lies, rumors and baseless accusations.”

Canada is sending military equipment and a loan for development aid to Ukraine in the midst of the country’s crisis with Russia.

Ukraine’s Defense Department stated in a news release Saturday that a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 transport plane arrived at Danylo Halytskyi International Airport in Lviv, about 350 miles west of Kyiv and within a short drive to the Polish border. Lviv has morphed into the “western capital” of the country as diplomats have left Kyiv.

“We received military aid in the form of rifles, machine guns with optical sights, night vision and surveillance devices and military equipment,” tweeted Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. “Thank you for this important and timely decision!”

Western diplomats made a last-ditch push for a peaceful resolution to tensions between Russia and Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, emphasizing that diplomacy remained an option up until the possible moment when Moscow launches an attack.

“While we’re convinced that President Putin has made his decision to go, until that — it actually happens — we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to diplomacy,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that possible Western sanctions against Russia should be made public now to deter Moscow from invading Ukraine.

“We don’t need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen and after our country will be fired at or after we will have no borders and after we will have no economy or part of our country will be occupied. Why would we need those sanctions then?” he asked in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during a security conference in Munich.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said Saturday that Ukraine’s “worst-case scenario” of a potential Russian invasion could happen as soon as next week.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Truss said that Europe is facing one of its most serious security situations in years.

“That worst-case scenario could happen as early as next week,” she said. “The reality is that Russia does want to turn the clock back.”

Truss said there’s been a significant increase in disinformation throughout the region, including what she described as false-flag operations in Donbas, a contested region of eastern Ukraine where Kyiv government forces have been locked in a years-long conflict with Moscow-backed militants.

LVIV, Ukraine — Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and five others were wounded as a result of shelling in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, the country’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said.

Reznikov did not provide further details in a statement posted on social media.

The defense minister reiterated that Ukrainian government forces were not planning to launch an offensive in the nation’s eastern Donbas region. But he also said Kyiv would “not allow the firing on the positions of our troops and human settlements with impunity.”