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Ukraine’s Leader Proposes Cease-Fire Plan in the East Ukrainian Leader Proposes Cease-Fire, but Separatists Scoff
(about 3 hours later)
MOSCOW — President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine proposed on Wednesday a unilateral cease-fire by government forces as part of a 14-point peace plan to end the separatist violence in the eastern part of the country. DONETSK, Ukraine — After Ukraine’s new president, Petro O. Poroshenko, told reporters in Kiev on Wednesday that he might soon order a temporary, unilateral cease-fire as part of a broader 14-point peace plan, it took all of several seconds for pro-Russian militants to rule it out.
For more than two months, the Ukrainian military has been battling pro-Russian rebels in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, with hundreds of casualties and no sign that the conflict will abate anytime soon. “I am a condemned man,” said a stick-thin fighter who, like many others here, identified himself only by an alias, Tarik, for security reasons. Sipping tea in the gloom of the lobby of Donetsk’s rebel-occupied administration building on Wednesday afternoon, he patted the magazine of the automatic rifle slung across his chest.
Mr. Poroshenko’s announcement of his cease-fire plan came in response to questions by reporters in Kiev, the capital, and it followed a phone call late Tuesday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in which both sides said the cease-fire was a main topic. Any cease-fire would certainly be violated by the Ukrainian army, he said, adding that he and other pro-Russian separatists would be arrested the minute the government had the opportunity.
“What peace can they possibly offer me?” he asked. “If they want peace, then they can leave.”
Tarik and a dozen other rank-and-file fighters here reacted to Mr. Poroshenko’s proposal with a dark, belligerent skepticism. Most rejected the idea of disarming until a patchwork of amorphous conditions were met, suggesting that a truce will be awfully difficult to achieve.
Some demanded that the Ukrainian military leave the region, called Donbass, while others wanted a war tribunal for Ukraine’s newly elected leaders. Most said they wanted the restoration of “stability,” the precise definition of which remained elusive.
“Maybe there was a way back when this all just started, when the people were out here with the flags to make their point, and before the killing,” said Denis, a separatist fighter from Makeyevka, a depressed industrial town outside of Donetsk, when asked how and when the conflict might be resolved.
Another fighter jumped in helpfully. “The Third World War,” he said to nods of assent.
None said he was ready to lay down his arms.
The responses seemed to afford little hope that, as Mr. Poroshenko urged, a cease-fire “should receive support from all participants in the events in Donbass.” Toward that end, the president’s office announced that Mr. Poroshenko would meet on Thursday with what his office called the “legitimate” leaders from the east, including mayors and business representatives.
The Russian government has called repeatedly for Ukraine to stop its military crackdown on the separatists but has also insisted that it does not control, or speak for, the separatists.
But rebel leaders, some of whom were in Moscow on Wednesday, quickly dismissed Mr. Poroshenko’s proposal. Denis Pushilin, one of the leaders of the political wing of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said in television appearances in Moscow that he thought it was “pointless,” suggesting it was the latest trick by Kiev to subdue the fighters.
Another rebel commander, Igor Strelkov, told Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Russian newspaper, which regularly carries his statements, that Ukraine had already violated the cease-fire, though officially it had not yet even been declared.
In Kiev, Mr. Poroshenko told reportrs that he planned to announce the cease-fire as part of a wider peace plan to end the more than two months of fighting in eastern Ukraine, where, the United Nations reported on Wednesday, at least 356 people are known to have died..
Mr. Poroshenko’s discussion of the peace plan followed a phone call late Tuesday with President Validmir V. Putin of Russia, in which both sides said the cease-fire was a main topic.
Other elements of Mr. Poroshenko’s plan include sealing the border with Russia and amending the Ukrainian Constitution to allow for a “decentralization” plan that will give more authority to local governments.Other elements of Mr. Poroshenko’s plan include sealing the border with Russia and amending the Ukrainian Constitution to allow for a “decentralization” plan that will give more authority to local governments.
The initial step, however, will be a halt to the so-called antiterrorist operation in eastern Ukraine, in which the Ukrainian military has sought to crack down on the pro-Russian militias, which include some Russian citizens who crossed the border to join the fight. Senior Russian officials have long insisted that any peace effort must begin with the Ukrainian government’s ending its use of force against the separatists. The initial step, however, would be a halt to the Ukrainian military’s so-called antiterrorist operation against the pro-Russian militias, whose ranks include some Russian citizens who crossed the border to join the fight. Senior Russian officials have long insisted that any peace effort must begin with such a step.
“The plan will begin with my order of a unilateral cease-fire,” Mr. Poroshenko said on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Mr. Poroshenko nominated Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Pavel Klimkina, as foreign minister, and asked Parliament to confirm him. Mr. Klimkina, a former deputy foreign minister, had an important role in negotiating the political and economic accords with the European Union that Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president, refused to sign last November after long promising to do so, setting off months of civil unrest. Mr. Poroshenko has vowed to complete those agreements in the coming weeks.
Mr. Poroshenko said he envisioned a temporary cease-fire, during which rebels would put down their arms and Russian fighters would be allowed to return home. Mr. Poroshenko also told reporters that he was awaiting a decision from lawmakers on holding early parliamentary elections, which he said were favored by 70 percent of Ukrainians.
The initial reaction from the separatists, however, indicated that they were not prepared to accept the deal in its current form. Senior Russian officials have long insisted that they do not control — or speak for — the rebels, and previous efforts by Russia and the West to negotiate a peace settlement have failed. Even on the eve of Mr. Poroshenko’s statements, heavy fighting in the Luhansk region on Tuesday left 27 injured and several dead, including two Russian state television journalists, according to a police spokeswoman for the region.
Klavdia Kulbatskaya, a spokeswoman for the Donetsk People’s Republic, the self-declared separatist government, said the insurgent forces were dismissive of the proposal.
“He talks about a cease-fire every day,” Ms. Kulbatskaya said by telephone. “And then the next day they start bombing even more heavily.”
Denis Pushilin, one of the leaders of the political wing of the Donetsk People’s Republic, told Rain TV in Moscow that he considered Mr. Poroshenko’s proposal “meaningless.”
“This is what happens: they cease fire, we disarm and they take us unarmed,” Mr. Pushilin said.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, who has repeatedly called for the Ukrainian government to halt its military operations against the separatists, said on Wednesday that Mr. Poroshenko’s plan might not be sufficient.
Speaking in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he was on an official visit, Mr. Lavrov said the Kremlin expected a “comprehensive” cease-fire, not a temporary one.
“If this initiative aims at a comprehensive cease-fire, in which the opposition militia fighting the authorities will be able to exhibit a good will and start negotiations, to which the authorities will invite representatives of the southeast, then I think it could be the step promised by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and which is actually expected by all of us,” said Mr. Lavrov, according to the Interfax news service.