Ukraine Rebel Leader Calls for Mobilization After Talks Fail
Pro-Russian troops near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve, on Jan. 28, 2015.
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A Ukrainian separatist leader ordered a military mobilization as the conflict with government forces escalated after peace talks failed to secure a truce.
The call-up seeks to increase the rebel army to as many as 100,000 people, Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-declared Donetsk republic, said Monday, according to the separatist-run DAN news service. The new troops will be deployed against a Ukrainian military build-up in the south of the conflict zone so that “by spring, they’ll be meeting a different force,” he said, according to DAN.