Shelling Picks Up on Front Line Separating Ukraine, Pro-Russia Separatists

Violence escalated in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, with Russian-backed separatists and authorities in Kyiv trading accusations over cease-fire violations along the front line, as President Biden said Moscow was fabricating a pretext to invade its neighbor and warned the threat of a Russian incursion remained “very high.”

Adding to the tension, the Kremlin threatened in a letter to the U.S. to resort to unspecified “military-technical measures” if it didn’t receive from the U.S. and its allies legally binding guarantees of its security, which include a pledge from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that it would never allow Ukraine to join, as well as curbs on troop deployments in Eastern Europe.