Russia aims to split Ukraine: Intelligence Chief

Russia wants to split Ukraine into two, as happened with North and South Korea, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said on Sunday, vowing “total” guerrilla warfare to prevent a carve-up of the country.   

A local leader in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in the Donbass region said, Sunday the region could soon hold a referendum on joining Russia, just as happened in Crimea after Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia - a vote that much of the world has refused to recognize.   

“In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said in a statement, referring to the division of Korea after World War Two. He predicted Ukraine’s army would push back Russian forces.”In addition, the season of a total Ukrainian guerrilla safari will soon begin” he said.   

Russia on Sunday struck military targets in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv with high-precision cruise missiles, the Russian defence ministry said.  

Russia hit a fuel depot being used by Ukrainian forces near Lviv with long-range missiles and used cruise missiles to strike a plant in the city being used to repair anti-aircraft systems, radar stations and sights for tanks, Reuters reported.  Moscow says the goals for what Putin calls a “special military operation” include demilitarizing and “de-nazifying” its neighbour. Ukraine and its Western allies calls this a pretext for an unprovoked invasion. 
LVIV, Ukraine, March 27 Reuters