Separatists ambush Ukrainian troops; German foreign minister seeks talks in Kiev
Separatists ambush Ukrainian troops; German foreign minister seeks talks in Kiev
(about 7 hours later)
DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russian separatists ambushed a convoy of Ukrainian troops Tuesday in the troubled eastern part of the country, as Germany’s foreign minister sought to jump-start talks between the Ukrainian government and the separatists as part of a European bid to head off their moves to join Russia.
DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russian separatists ambushed a convoy of Ukrainian troops Tuesday in the troubled eastern part of the country, as Germany’s foreign minister sought to jump-start talks between the Kiev government and the separatists as part of a European bid to resolve the crisis.
Pro-Russian rebels killed six Ukrainian troops and wounded eight others in an attack Tuesday afternoon about 12 miles outside the city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said. The ministry, in a statement on its Web site, said about 30 militants armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers struck a convoy carrying paratroopers as it was approaching a bridge near the village of Oktyabrsk.
The German delegation’s arrival signaled that efforts to find a diplomatic solution may be gaining pace amid concerns that the region could irrevocably slip out of the control of the Ukrainian government or descend further into violence.
A grenade struck one armored personnel carrier’s engine, and rebels opened fire as Ukrainian troops worked to move the crippled vehicle off the road, the ministry said.
But there was renewed fighting Tuesday, with pro-Russian rebels killing seven Ukrainian troops and wounding eight others in an attack around 1 p.m. local time about 12 miles outside the city of Kramatorsk. About 30 militants armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers struck a convoy carrying paratroopers as it was approaching a bridge near the village of Oktyabrsk, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
The attack came a day after separatists announced the birth of two new pro-Russian republics and demanded that Ukraine security forces leave their “sovereign” territory. The separatists claimed landslide victories in disputed self-rule referendums held Sunday in two eastern Ukrainian regions.
A grenade struck one armored personnel carrier’s engine, the ministry said, and rebels opened fire as Ukrainian troops tried to move the crippled vehicle out of the way. Six soldiers were killed in the ambush, and one later died of his injuries, local media reported.
Upon his arrival in the Ukrainian capital, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier immediately met with top Ukrainian officials.
The attack occurred a day after separatists used the results of Sunday’s snap elections to herald the birth of two new pro-Russian republics and demand that Ukrainian security forces leave their “sovereign” territory.
At a news conference afterward, Steinmeier said the European Union supports Ukrainian efforts to “launch a national dialogue,” disarm illegal groups and end the occupation of government buildings by separatists.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew to Kiev after a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday to try to find a negotiated solution to the worst crisis between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
It was not immediately clear who would be sitting down at any negotiating table, however.
Yet statements by the foreign ministries in Kiev and Moscow suggested that the protagonists in the conflict were still talking past each other.
In earlier remarks, Steinmeier expressed hope for a quick release of hostages held by the separatists, and he stressed the importance of Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the interim Ukrainian government of escalating the conflict and called on Kiev to withdraw its troops and cease its “punitive actions” as part of a diplomatic solution worked out with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Pro-Russian separatists declared two new “sovereign” republics in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland Monday, including the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” after asserting runaway victories in controversial, vaguely-worded referendums Sunday.
In turn, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russia’s view of the OSCE’s “road map” was “far from reality, biased and one-sided” and accused Moscow of sponsoring the separatists in an effort to destabilize Ukraine. The spokesman said Kiev was following the OSCE plan by scheduling an “all-Ukrainian roundtable” Wednesday to discuss national unity. It was not clear who would be sitting at any negotiating table, however.
One of the regions promptly asked to join Russia. The Kremlin issued a statementfollowing the vote, saying the referendums should be respected and further violence avoided. Kiev called the chaotic referendums a farce, and the West declared them illegal.
In Donetsk, the Kiev-appointed regional governor, Serhiy Taruta, said the “Donetsk People’s Republic” has no political or legal standing. But Taruta also told reporters that the concerns of the region’s people need to be addressed. He advocates a nationwide referendum June 15, at the same time as the second round of a presidential election, on a decentralization of political power that would give regions more say in their affairs, including a greater share of the taxes they levy and the power to grant Russian the status of second official language.
Ignoring the separatists’ declaration of sovereignty, Ukrainian government forces renewed military operations Tuesday against the rebel-controlled city of Slovyansk, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. It quoted an unidentified rebel spokesman as saying that Ukrainian forces were attacking from several directions, using mortars and other heavy weapons, in an effort to retake the city.
Taruta said he is in regular contact with the separatists, mainly over the issue of freeing hostages. But he said the makeup of the separatist negotiating team keeps changing because of internal power struggles, with no clear center of decision-making power.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted on his Facebook page late Monday a photo from inside a transport plane that he said was carrying troops and new equipment to Slovyansk for use against the militants. “It’s good when the prime minister helps and involves himself — the case at hand proceeds more quickly,” he said.
Steinmeier flew to Kiev after European foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to try to find a negotiated solution to the worst crisis between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War. Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, who attendedthe meeting, told the BBC on Tuesday morning that dialogue is needed with “urgency” and that there were “some signs” Moscow was ready to talk.
Russia swiftly annexed Crimea, an autonomous Ukrainian region with a majority ethnicRussian population, in March after a similar, hastily called referendum.
Separatist leaders of the Donetsk People’s Republic asked Monday to join Russia, while militants in Luhansk said they wished to unite with Donetsk to form a new republic called “Novorossiya,” or New Russia.
Russia responded cautiously, repeating an earlier call for negotiations within Ukraine.
“We reaffirm the need for the immediate establishment of a broad discussion in Ukraine concerning its future state structure, involving all political forces and the country’s regions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine’s government has denounced the referendums as a “criminal farce” arranged by a “gang of Russian terrorists,” but it says it is willing to talk with regional leaders about autonomy.
The sentiments expressed in the referendums underline the urgent need for the Kiev government to negotiate with the separatists, perhaps offering meaningful autonomy, before the situation slips further out of its control, experts said.
“There are a very large number of people who are resentful towards Kiev,” said Adam Swain, a professor at the University of Nottingham in England and a frequent visitor to the region. The Ukrainian government ignores these sentiments at its peril, he added.
“If Kiev wants to have any semblance of control in the region, they have no option but to start negotiating,” Swain said. “It is crazy for them to reject this out of hand.”
In Donetsk, the Kiev-appointed regional governor, Serhiy Taruta, said the Donetsk People’s Republic has no political or legal standing, but he allowed that concerns of the region’s people needed to be addressed.
He advocates a nationwide referendum on June 15, at the same time as the second round of the presidential election, to offer a decentralization of political power within Ukraine, giving regions a greater share of the taxes they levy and the power to give Russian the status of a second official language in parts of the country.
Taruta said he is in regular contact with the separatists, mainly over the issue of freeing hostages. But he said the separatist negotiating team keeps changing because of internal power struggles, with no clear center of decision-making power.
“The problem is our opponents,” he said. “They don’t have one single representative who has the rights and responsibility to implement any agreements.”
“The problem is our opponents,” he said. “They don’t have one single representative who has the rights and responsibility to implement any agreements.”
Sunday’s twin referendums — deemed illegal by the United States and the European Union — asked voters whether they supported “self-determination” for the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, respectively. But separatist leaders were deliberately vague about what that meant, saying that the question of whether to seek federal autonomy within Ukraine, independence or absorption into Russia would be left to a later date.
Separatists said 89 percent of the people who voted in Donetsk and 96 percent of voters in Luhansk supported self-determination. The results could not be independently verified, and the way the referendums were administered — by the separatists themselves — lacked international credibility. Yet the vote appeared to reflect genuine and widespread mistrust of the interim government in Kiev, which came to power in February after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled in the face of popular protests.
Most people who opposed the referendums simply stayed away from polling stations. Many of those who voted yes said they wanted to remain with Ukraine but had turned out to express anger at Kiev, especially for the deaths of pro-Russian activists and unarmed citizens during clashes in the port cities of Odessa and Mariupol.
Demand for allegiance
Once they had secured what they considered to be a popular mandate, separatists in Donetsk did not take long to reveal their true intentions.
In the rebel stronghold of Slovyansk, a Russian who portrays himself as the rebels’ military commander demanded the departure of Ukrainian security forces.
“All the soldiers and officers of the armed forces, internal security forces, the Security Service, the Interior Ministry and other paramilitary structures of Ukraine from now on are considered to be illegally within the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR),” said a statement attributed to rebel military commander Igor Strelkov and distributed in pamphlets in Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. “Within 48 hours they are required to swear allegiance to the DPR or leave the country.”
E.U. documents and Ukrainian authorities identify Strelkov as a member of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU.
The authenticity of the pamphlets could not be independently verified, but separatist leaders in Donetsk also said that one of their main priorities was to fight representatives of the Kiev government. “We will propose they either shift to the people’s side, or ask them to leave our territory,” Pushilin said.
Separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk were adamant that the Ukrainian presidential and mayoral elections scheduled for May 25 would not take place in their regions.
Separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk were adamant that the Ukrainian presidential and mayoral elections scheduled for May 25 would not take place in their regions.
But Taruta, the Donetsk regional governor, said preparations were continuing, adding that police have been asked to provide adequate security for the process.
But Taruta said preparations were continuing, adding that police have been asked to provide adequate security for the process.
Polls have indicated that most residents of eastern Ukraine would prefer to remain part of that country.
Polls have indicated that most residents of eastern Ukraine would prefer to remain part of the country.
Still, many in eastern Ukraine are deeply unhappy with the Western-leaning government in Kiev. They consider it illegal and in league with ultranationalist groups, and some worry that the large population of Russian speakers living in the east will be treated as second-class citizens. Their fears have been magnified by aggressive Russian propaganda.
Still, many are deeply unhappy with the Western-leaning government in Kiev. They consider it illegal and in league with ultranationalist groups, and some worry that the large population of Russian speakers in the east will be treated as second-class citizens. Their fears have been magnified by aggressive Russian propaganda.
Anthony Faiola in Berlin and Daniela Deane in London contributed to this report.
Anthony Faiola in Berlin and Daniela Deane in London contributed to this report.
