<Anchor>
Pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas region, which have engaged in clashes with Ukrainian government forces, have announced that they will evacuate residents of the region to Russia.
Major Western figures have criticized it as a Russian scenario to justify the invasion.
This is reporter Jang Hoon-kyung.
<Reporter> An
explosion occurred yesterday (18th) local time in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
No casualties have been confirmed, but the area is where the fighting between government forces and separatist pro-Russian rebels continues.
The pro-Russian separatist government has said it will evacuate its residents to Russia, citing tensions arising from attacks by Ukrainian government forces.
[Pushlin/Pro-Russian separatist government commander: I request that the Ukrainian side of the crime be condemned.
They deliberately instigate fear in civilians.
]
However, the Ukrainian government is claiming that the rebels are attacking on the contrary, so there are observations that such an evacuation measure may be a preliminary preparation for an all-out war with the government forces with the support of Russia.
High-level Western officials attending a security conference in Munich, Germany to discuss the situation in Ukraine, also voiced a strong warning of the Russian threat.
In particular, there is a lot of criticism that Russia's provocation is a ready-made false provocation scenario that ultimately justifies its invasion of Ukraine.
[Harris/Vice President of the United States: If Russia takes any aggressive action, it will have serious consequences in terms of economic sanctions.]
Russian President Putin said he was monitoring the situation in Donbas and insisted that the Ukrainian government act to end the conflict. .