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Version 6 Version 7
Convoy of Trucks Returns to Russia From Ukraine Germany Pledges Aid for Ukraine as Russia Hails Returning Convoy
(about 4 hours later)
MOSCOW — The huge convoy of Russian trucks that entered war-torn eastern Ukraine on Friday, sharply escalating tensions, returned to Russia on Saturday after unloading food and medicine in the city of Luhansk, and the Russian government quickly declared its satisfaction with the operation. KIEV, Ukraine — Pulling back a huge aid convoy whose entry into Ukraine stirred Western outrage, Russia on Saturday cheered the completion of what it called a successful humanitarian mission, as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, visited the Ukrainian capital and pledged $695 million for rebuilding war-ravaged areas of eastern Ukraine and aid to refugees.
Russia’s decision to send the convoy across the border without an escort by the International Red Cross or final clearance from the Ukrainian government in Kiev had drawn harsh criticism. President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine called it a “flagrant violation of international law.” Another senior Ukrainian official denounced it as a “direct invasion.” And Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO, in a statement condemning the convoy’s entry, said it coincided with a “major escalation in Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine.” The German pledge, the latest in a series of European offers to assist Ukraine since the toppling of President Viktor F. Yanukovych in February, signaled a desire by Europe not to let Russia become the sole benefactor of Ukraine’s Russian-speaking eastern portion.
The convoy’s swift return suggested that, at least for a moment, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had scored a public relations victory, especially on the domestic front. It was also accompanied by warnings from Ms. Merkel that the government in Kiev could not subdue pro-Russian rebels through force alone.
During a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Saturday in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, Mr. Poroshenko said that 185 trucks had returned to Russia. It was unclear where the rest of a fleet of more than 200 vehicles that crossed into Ukraine on Friday had gone. Russian news media reported that some of the trucks might move from Luhansk to Donetsk, a second rebel stronghold. While denying that German calls for a cease-fire by all sides in the conflict implied a criticism of Ukraine’s increasingly bloody military offensive against the rebels, Ms. Merkel insisted that “there will be no military solution to this problem.”
While Moscow cheered a successful aid mission, Mr. Poroshenko claimed credit for Ukraine, saying that “our strong and coordinated efforts managed to avoid provocation.” He derided Russia’s relief effort as “so-called help” and said Russia’s convoy was “in violation of all norms of international law.” But he praised Ms. Merkel for a pledge by Germany to help set up a fund of 500 million euros, or about $660 million, to rebuild war-ravaged areas of eastern Ukraine, known as the Donbass. Heavy artillery bombardments struck at least three areas in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk on Saturday afternoon. Artillery shells exploded in a residential district near a traffic roundabout and rebel checkpoint near the city center, killing three people and wounding others while missing the separatist military instillation. Neighbors said the three dead were family members caught in the open while running for a bomb shelter.
Shelling also struck in the south of Donetsk near a highway leading to the city of Mariupol, though without reported casualties.
Ukraine, determined to reconquer areas of the ease seized by rebel gunmen, has stepped up a drive to oust the separatists from their last major strongholds, encircling Donetsk and Luhansk, the destination of a huge Russian aid convoy that crossed into Ukraine on Friday.
By Saturday, most of the trucks appeared to have driven back into Russia without incident after unloading their cargo of food, water and other supplies.
Russia’s decision to send the convoy across the border without an escort by the International Committee of the Red Cross or final clearance from the Ukrainian government in Kiev had drawn harsh criticism. President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine called it a “flagrant violation of international law.” Another senior Ukrainian official denounced it as a “direct invasion.” And Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO, in a statement condemning the convoy’s entry, said it coincided with a “major escalation in Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine.”
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. spoke Saturday with Mr. Poroshenko and “commended Ukraine’s restraint in the face of Russia’s blatant provocation and disregard of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” according to a White House statement.
Mr. Poroshenko told Mr. Biden that most Russian military trucks had returned to Russian territory, the statement said. Mr. Poroshenko did voice concerns about “continued Russian military activity,” the statement said, including artillery fire into the Ukrainian town of Novoazovsk.
By swiftly returning the trucks to Russia on Saturday, the Kremlin seemed to seize an opportunity to make its detractors in Kiev and the West appear alarmist. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the goals all along had been strictly humanitarian.
“We are satisfied that the Russian humanitarian aid for southeast Ukraine was delivered to the destination,” the statement said. “We were guided in this exclusively by the goal of helping needy civilians.”
During his meeting here with Ms. Merkel, Mr. Poroshenko said that 185 trucks had returned to Russia. It was unclear where the rest of a fleet of more than 200 vehicles that had crossed into Ukraine on Friday had gone. Russian news media reported that some trucks might have moved from Luhansk to Donetsk.
While Moscow cheered a successful aid mission, Mr. Poroshenko said Ukraine’s “strong and coordinated efforts managed to avoid provocation.” He derided Russia’s relief effort as “so-called help” and said its convoy was “in violation of all norms of international law,” but he praised Ms. Merkel for the pledge of aid — $662 million in credit guarantees for reconstruction projects for eastern Ukraine, known as the Donbass, and $33 million for refugees.
“We all remember the Marshall Plan for postwar Europe,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “Today I can say that this is the beginning of the Merkel plan to restore the infrastructure of Donbass.”“We all remember the Marshall Plan for postwar Europe,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “Today I can say that this is the beginning of the Merkel plan to restore the infrastructure of Donbass.”
Russian television stations, largely controlled by the government, had carried constant coverage of the convoy crossing the border on Friday. The Russian Foreign Ministry declared the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine so grave that it could no longer tolerate what it described as stalling by the Ukrainian government and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had agreed to oversee the convoy. Russian television stations, largely controlled by the government, had carried constant coverage of the convoy crossing the border on Friday, after the Russian Foreign Ministry declared the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine so grave that it could no longer tolerate what it described as stalling by the Ukrainian government and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had agreed to oversee the convoy.
For weeks, Kiev and its allies, including the United States and major European countries, had raised suspicions about Russia’s plans to deliver humanitarian aid, fearing that the trucks could be used to carry arms and other supplies to pro-Russian militants who seem to be on the verge of defeat in their fight against the Ukrainian government.For weeks, Kiev and its allies, including the United States and major European countries, had raised suspicions about Russia’s plans to deliver humanitarian aid, fearing that the trucks could be used to carry arms and other supplies to pro-Russian militants who seem to be on the verge of defeat in their fight against the Ukrainian government.
There were also concerns that Russia would use the trucks to slow the Ukrainian government’s military operations in Luhansk, essentially to shield rebels as they regrouped and rearmed.There were also concerns that Russia would use the trucks to slow the Ukrainian government’s military operations in Luhansk, essentially to shield rebels as they regrouped and rearmed.
In Kiev, a military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said the Ukrainian government was also hoping to defuse the situation, but he accused Russia of using some of the aid trucks to take military equipment from Ukrainian factories back to Russia. However, he offered no evidence to support his assertion.In Kiev, a military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said the Ukrainian government was also hoping to defuse the situation, but he accused Russia of using some of the aid trucks to take military equipment from Ukrainian factories back to Russia. However, he offered no evidence to support his assertion.
“The leadership of Ukraine is using all diplomatic and political means to resolve this crisis and will not allow it to develop further,” Colonel Lysenko said at a briefing for reporters.“The leadership of Ukraine is using all diplomatic and political means to resolve this crisis and will not allow it to develop further,” Colonel Lysenko said at a briefing for reporters.
While witnesses reported seeing more than 200 trucks in the convoy, Colonel Lysenko said that Ukrainian officials had counted fewer than that crossing the border on Friday and that some of them, having dropped off their cargo, were being used “to take away equipment from Ukrainian enterprises.” While witnesses reported seeing more than 200 trucks in the convoy, Colonel Lysenko said that Ukrainian officials had fewer than that crossing the border on Friday and that some of them, having dropped off their cargo, were being used “to take away equipment from Ukrainian enterprises.”
He said, without offering any proof, that the equipment was taken from the Topaz plant, which makes Kolchuga, a type of radar system, and from a factory in Luhansk that produces firearms magazines.He said, without offering any proof, that the equipment was taken from the Topaz plant, which makes Kolchuga, a type of radar system, and from a factory in Luhansk that produces firearms magazines.
The colonel said Russia was continuing to fire artillery and missiles at Ukrainian military positions from the Russian side of the border, repeating an accusation that Ukraine has made consistently in recent weeks. Russia has denied direct military involvement in the conflict. Colonel Lysenko also said Russia was continuing to fire artillery and missiles at Ukrainian military positions from inside Russia, repeating an accusation that Ukraine has made consistently in recent weeks. Russia has denied direct military involvement in the conflict.
By swiftly returning the trucks to Russia, the Kremlin seemed to seize an opportunity to make its detractors in Kiev and the West appear alarmist, and the Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the goals all along had been strictly humanitarian. “We are satisfied that the Russian humanitarian aid for southeast Ukraine was delivered to the destination,” the Foreign Ministry said. “We were guided in this exclusively by the goal of helping needy civilians.” Ms. Merkel, who on Friday expressed “great concern” about the Russian convoy in telephone conversions with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Poroshenko, mostly avoided the issue on Saturday and instead focused on German efforts to help Ukraine, particularly eastern regions. It was unclear, however, how the assistance offered by Germany would help rebuild infrastructure in eastern Ukraine when two of its major cities are still controlled by rebels.
The statement added that Russia intended to work with the Red Cross to deliver the assistance. The hasty unloading of the trucks also seemed to confirm that many of them had been nearly empty. Journalists who were allowed to look inside some trucks had seen that many were only partly filled. Ms. Merkel said after her talks with Mr. Poroshenko that Germany’s emphasis on the need for a negotiated settlement “does not mean that Ukraine must not defend itself militarily but there must be diplomatic solutions for these sorts of problems.”
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine found that most of the 34 trucks it inspected carried foodstuffs, including buckwheat, rice, sugar and water, and that some bore medical supplies. Both Ukraine and Russia pay great attention to Germany’s position as Ms. Merkel has become the dominant decision-maker in European foreign policy and, with President Obamadealing with a host of other issues, the West’s pivotal leader on the Ukraine crisis.
The Red Cross said on Friday that fighting in eastern Ukraine made it too dangerous for the convoy to cross the border and deliver the aid. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the humanitarian crisis was worsening and that it could no longer wait. Mr. Poroshenko, who is scheduled to meet Mr. Putin next Tuesday in Minsk, Belarus, insisted that he too wanted a peaceful solution but said that two previous cease-fire declarations by Ukraine had only emboldened the rebels.
Military experts say that there is no doubt that Russia could invade Ukraine — with tanks not cargo trucks — on extremely short notice and that the West could do little about it. “I can only affirm that Ukraine is ready and able to settle this conflict by peaceful means, he said. Why are we being hampered? Foreign mercenaries. Please, take away armed men from our territory and I can guarantee that peace in Ukraine will be established very soon.”
The loud criticism from Kiev and the West, however, seemed to provide the Kremlin with an easy opportunity to portray its critics as shrill and unreliable, while pushing back on hard-line Russian nationalists who have criticized Mr. Putin and his government for not doing more to help pro-Russian militants. Efforts at a negotiated settlement have been complicated by the fact that the rebels’ precise goals remain unclear. Some say they simply seek more autonomy for the east within Ukraine, while others demand annexation by Russia or international recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as separate, independent states.
The Obama administration on Friday had also sharply criticized Russia’s unilateral decision to send the convoy across the border, which it said was “in violation of its previous commitments and international law.” Ukraine has offered the Russian-speaking eastern region greater powers to run its own affairs under a proposed decentralization program but has balked at Russian demands that Ukraine become a federal state. Ukraine sees that proposal as a ruse to divide the country and ensure that the central government in Kiev abandons its current pro-Western orientation.
“Russian military vehicles painted to look like civilian trucks forced their way into Ukraine,” said a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Caitlin Hayden. Ms. Merkel, a strong supporter of a Kiev government installed after the February ouster of Mr. Yanukovych, played down comments by her deputy, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, that indicated German support for “federalization,” a taboo word here.
Ms. Hayden said that only a small number of vehicles were inspected by Ukrainian customs officials and that there was no way to know the contents of the entire convoy. The Ukrainian government complained that its customs agents sent to a border crossing to inspect the trucks had been blocked as Russia sent the convoy through. Asked about Mr. Gabriel’s remarks, she said that he had in fact meant decentralization, an option that Kiev supports. “What we call federalism is decentralization,” Ms. Merkel said.
Even as Ms. Merkel’s visit to Kiev was underway, fierce fighting continued in eastern Ukraine.
In Donetsk, heavy artillery bombardments struck at least two neighborhoods of the city on Saturday afternoon.
In one barrage, shells landed in a residential district near a traffic roundabout and rebel checkpoint, killing three people and wounding others while missing the separatist military installation. Earlier in the day, mortars landed again amid apartment buildings near an exhibition center occupied by separatist fighters.