Pro-Russia rebels in Ukraine on Friday announced the evacuation of their people from the eastern part of the country, after two days of shelling between Ukrainian and rebel forces. The evacuated people will be given shelter in Russia, and the West fears that the evacuation could provide pretext for Russia to mount an invasion of its neighbour.

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which has been a zone of conflict since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, saw the most intense exchange of artillery fire for years over the past two days. Both the rebels and the Ukrainian government blamed the exchange on each other.

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Subsequently, Denis Pushilin, the head of the self proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, announced on social media on Friday that Russia had agreed to provide accommodation to those who leave the region of conflict. Women, children, and the elderly would be evacuated first, he added.

Another Russia-backed separatist group, the Luhansk People’s Republic, followed suit and made a similar statement, with head Leonid Pasechnik saying, “To prevent civilian casualties, I call on residents of the republic … to leave for the Russian Federation as soon as possible.”

Reuters reported that as many as 700,000 people could be evacuated.

Both Russia-backed group of separatists have accused Kyiv of mounting an offensive against its people, but Kyiv has denied that offensive operations are taking place in the Donbas region, where the frontline has remained pretty much static for the past seven years.

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As per The Independent, Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has also denied the rebels’ claims, saying, “Ukraine does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas. We are fully committed to diplomatic conflict resolution only.”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has also dismissed the rebels’ claims, and told the Munich Security Conference on Friday, “Everything that we’re seeing … is part of a scenario that is already in play of creating false provocations, of then having to respond to those provocations, and ultimately committing new aggression against Ukraine.”

“The facts are that despite what Russia has said in recent days about pulling back forces from the border, that has not happened. On the contrary, we see additional forces going to the border, including leading edge forces that would be part of any aggression. So we have to be informed by that. We have to be extremely vigilant,” Blinken further warned.

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Over the past several weeks, Russia has reportedly amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders. While Moscow claimed this week that it had ordered two separate withdrawals, the West still believes Russia is preparing for an invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow, however, denies having plans to invade its neighbour, and says it is merely seeking security guarantees from the US and its NATO allies. Russia has also accused the West of carrying a misinformation campaign to cause hysteria.