Separatists to evacuate civilians from Eastern Ukraine to Russia amid crisis

Moscow-backed separatists in two breakaway regions of Eastern Ukraine have announced they are evacuating civilians to Russia as spiking tensions in the region aggravated Western fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and a new war in Europe. 

A car bombing hit the eastern city of Donetsk, but no casualties were reported.

Those were the latest in a cascade of developments this week that have brought Russia's relations with the West to their lowest point in decades. U.S. and European officials, focused on an estimated 169,000 to 190,000 Russian personnel posted in and around Ukraine, fear the long-simmering separatist conflict in Eastern Ukraine could provide the spark for a broader attack.

The Kremlin declared massive nuclear drills to flex its military muscle, and President Vladimir Putin pledged to protect Russia's national interests against what it sees as encroaching Western threats. Meanwhile, U.S. and European leaders grasped for ways to keep the peace and Europe's post-Cold War security order.

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris said the U.S. still hopes Russia will de-escalate but is ready to hit it with tough sanctions in case of an attack. U.S. leaders this week issued their most dire warnings yet that Moscow could order an invasion of Ukraine any day.

"We remain, of course, open to and desirous of diplomacy … but we are also committed, if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequence," Harris said at the annual Munich Security Conference.

While Russia snubbed this year's conference, lines of communication remain open: The U.S. and Russian defence chiefs spoke Friday. U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin called for de-escalation, the return of Russian forces surrounding Ukraine to their home bases and a diplomatic resolution, according to the Pentagon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to meet next week.

Immediate worries focused on the volatile front lines of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east, where a surge of shelling Thursday tore through the walls of a kindergarten and basic communications were disrupted. Both sides accused each other of opening fire.

The separatist conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Moscow-backed separatists erupted in 2014 and has killed over 14,000 civilians and combatants, according to Ukrainian government estimates.

A bombing struck a car outside the main government building in the major eastern city of Donetsk, according to an Associated Press journalist there. The head of the separatists' forces, Denis Sinenkov, said the car was his, the Interfax news agency reported.

There were no reports of casualties and no independent confirmation of the circumstances of the blast. Uniformed men inspected the burned-out car. Broken glass littered the area.

Shelling and shooting are common along the line that separates Ukrainian forces and the rebels, but targeted violence is unusual in rebel-held cities like Donetsk.

However, the explosion and the announced evacuations were in line with U.S. warnings of so-called false-flag attacks that Russia would use to justify an invasion.