Ukraine’s cease-fire in jeopardy as new fighting reported
Cease-fire in Ukraine threatened as fighting breaks out in east
(about 2 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine on Sunday sought to maintain a tenuous cease-fire with pro-Russian rebels after a series of breaches endangered the truce, with officials in the eastern city of Mariupol saying one woman was killed and three were wounded in fighting overnight.
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine struggled to maintain a tenuous cease-fire with pro-Russian rebels after a series of repeated breaches Sunday, even as the government here faced the equally daunting task of selling the peace plan to the nation.
“The Ukrainian government still believes in the cease-fire despite the violations,” Volodymyr Poleviy, deputy spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security Defense Council, said Sunday.
Firefights broke out near the rebel-held city of Donetsk as well as east of the key port city of Mariupol, eyewitnesses said. Yet Ukrainian officials maintained that generally, the truce, which went into effect Friday evening, was holding.
Pro-Russian separatists and, according to Ukrainian and NATO officials, troops from Russia itself have taken up positions east of the key port city of Mariupol. Poleviy said rebel forces launched a limited rocket attack on Ukrainian military positions beginning late Saturday. The Ukrainian military-held airport in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, he said, had also come under fire. “We hope it was the product of miscommunications,” Poleviy said.
“The Ukrainian government still believes in the cease-fire despite the violations,” said Volodymyr Poleviy, deputy spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security Defense Council.
Russia has denied it has sent troops or arms to aid the rebels.
At the same time, President Petro Poroshenko faced the growing challenge of selling the deal to Ukrainians at a time when it appears that his government, confronting overwhelming force in the east, is suing for peace largely on Russian terms. The deal came together last week after a major new offensive by the rebels, who, according to NATO and Ukrainian officials, are being aided not only by Russian arms, but also Russian troops — charges that Moscow denies.
There were also signs of limited progress. Ukrainian officials said Sunday that prisoner swaps agreed to as part of the truce had begun Saturday, with two privates from the 9th Battalion of Ukraine’s territorial defenses released at a checkpoint in the eastern Luhansk region.
Ukrainians fear that the deal may ultimately leave the industrialized eastern regions of Ukraine in Moscow’s political sphere. Yuriy Lutsenko, one of Poroshenko’s senior advisers, seemed to acknowledge just that in a highly candid assessment Sunday, comparing post-truce Ukraine to the former East Germany and West Germany.
Boris Litvinov, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of the main rebel groups, said skirmishes had broken out after the cease-fire but would not say which side was instigating the violations. He charged the Ukrainian military with using the truce to bolster its positions with additional troops and equipment in the east.
Those living in rebel-held territory centered on the eastern city of Donetsk, he suggested, would in time grow envious of the new prosperity in the western half of the country as it underwent reforms and received investment from the United States and Europe.
“When our standard of living is attractive, even to the Kremlin-poisoned citizens of Donetsk, we will open the door to anyone who recognizes an integrated and unified European Ukraine,” Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Apparently seeking a ray of light for Kiev, Lutsenko additionally claimed that during the NATO summit last week, Poroshenko had reached a deal with five Western nations — the United States, Poland, Italy, Norway and France — to provide weapons, equipment or military advisers. But officials from at least four of those nations objected to that characterization.
The United States, Ukraine and other nations will be conducting join military exercises in the Black Sea this week, and Washington has already pledged $60 million in non-lethal assistance to Kiev. But the Obama administration has drawn the line at lethal assistance, and one U.S. official familiar with the situation said Sunday that despite Ukrainian claims, “our position remains the same.”
Officials from Poland, Italy and Norway told Reuters that the report was incorrect — although Italy, at least, has promised to supply helmets and bulletproof vests.
On Sunday, the full 12-point cease-fire agreement was finally published, two days after it was signed in Minsk, Belarus. The brevity of the deal — it comprised only 11 / 2 pages of text — underlined just how much work remains to be done for a stable peace to be achieved. The core of the deal, however, appeared to be based on an outline for peace personally drafted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and included broad amnesty as well as prisoner exchanges and monitoring of the Ukraine-Russia border.
The document, however, offered few specifics about the central issue facing Ukraine: the political future of the separatist regions. But it hinted at potentially significant concessions, including a pledge to implement “decentralization of power” in the restive east and the adoption of a law granting a “temporary procedure of local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
Ukraine and the rebels, however, have differed sharply on what decentralization of power would look like on the ground, with the Ukrainian government in Kiev rebuffing demands for broad autonomy.
On Sunday, fears were growing among a segment of Ukrainians that Kiev may be bending to Moscow’s will, potentially creating a frozen conflict zone in the east similar to the breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova that are sustained by Russian interventions.
“This is an absurd plan and no one will go for it,” said a 20-year-old businessman turned soldier from Donetsk who gave his name only as Oleg in order to talk freely. He has been fighting since May in one of the volunteer militia units set up by the government in Kiev to bolster its armed forces. Since then, he said, he has watched six of his comrades die in combat with pro-Russian rebels.
Oleg said he and other pro-Ukrainian residents in the east would feel deeply betrayed if the truce ultimately left rebel “criminals” in the east in charge. “I have watched my friends and relatives die in this conflict. That cannot have been for nothing,” he said.
And yet, the cease-fire itself appeared to be less a truce than a scaling down of violence.
Poleviy said that rebel forces had launched limited rocket attacks on Ukrainian military positions beginning late Saturday, continuing into Sunday. Officials in the eastern city of Mariupol said one woman was killed and three were wounded in fighting overnight. The Ukrainian military-held airport in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk also came under fire. “We hope it was the product of miscommunications,” Poleviy said.
But there were also signs of limited progress. Ukrainian officials said Sunday that prisoner swaps agreed to as part of the truce had begun Saturday, with two privates from the 9th Battalion of Ukraine’s territorial defenses released at a checkpoint in the eastern Luhansk region.
Boris Litvinov, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of the main rebel groups, said skirmishes had broken out after the cease-fire but would not say which side was instigating the violations. But he charged the Ukrainian military with using the truce to bolster its positions with additional troops and equipment in the east.
“The truce is on paper, but the battles are continuing,” he said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want to be a prophet, but I am sure that in the next day the Ukrainian army will start attacking again, but we do not want more causalities.”
“The truce is on paper, but the battles are continuing,” he said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want to be a prophet, but I am sure that in the next day the Ukrainian army will start attacking again, but we do not want more causalities.”
On Sunday, the full 12-point cease-fire agreement was finally published, two days after it was signed in Minsk, Belarus. The brevity of the truce deal — consisting of a page-and-a-half of text — underlined just how much work remained to be done for a stable peace to be achieved.
Birnbaum reported from Moscow. Karoun Demirjian in Moscow, Alex Ryabchyn in Kiev, and Craig Whitlock in Tbilisi, Georgia, contributed to this report.
The document offered few specifics about the political future of the separatist regions. But it hinted at some potentially significant concessions by Ukraine, including a pledge to implement “decentralization of power” in the restive east and the adoption of a law granting a “temporary procedure of local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”
Ukraine and the rebels, however, have differed sharply on what decentralization of power would effectively mean on the ground, with the Ukrainian government in Kiev rebuffing demands for broad autonomy.
In addition, the participants promised to continue an “inclusive national dialogue,” an echo of similar resolutions that for months have made little headway.
Late Saturday, Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page that there had been “violations of the cease-fire from Russia,” with Grad rockets fired 16 times at Ukrainian positions “from Russian territory.” He said Ukrainian forces in Mariupol were being reinforced with additional troops, including the First Brigade of the National Guard.
Mariupol, 25 miles west of the Russian border, is at the maximum of the multiple rocket launcher’s typical range, and it was not clear whether Avakov was referring to an assault on the city.
There was no immediate response from Russia, but the Kremlin has in the past denied Ukrainian accusations that it is firing on Ukraine from its territory.
“Are you surprised that Putin is treacherous?” Avakov wrote, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This has not canceled our determination to defend Mariupol.”
Numerous explosions were heard on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol and a thick smoke was visible on the horizon, despite the fragile cease-fire being put in place the day before. The bombardment and explosions to the east of the industrial city on the Sea of Azov had come at the end of a mostly calm day. It was not clear whether the fighting near Mariupol represented a full-fledged end to the cease-fire or simply a localized burst of violence, and after about two hours the explosions had quieted, witnesses said.
The bombardment and explosions to the east of the industrial city on the Sea of Azov came at the end of a mostly calm day. It was not clear whether the fighting near Mariupol represented a full-fledged end to the cease-fire or simply a localized burst of violence, and after about two hours the explosions had quieted, witnesses said.
The fighting underlined the speed with which the Ukraine tinderbox could reignite after nearly five months of hostilities. Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian rebels who have seized territory in the east have said that they are weary of combat — but neither side was confident Saturday that the cease-fire would hold for long.
Witnesses in Mariupol said that the easternmost government-held checkpoint on the outskirts of the city of 500,000 came under fire around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Ambulances raced to the fighting, and Ukrainian military vehicles sped through the city.
“I was at a café by the seaside with a friend when I heard the shelling start,” said Vladimir, a 29-year-old Mariupol factory worker who asked that his last name not be published because he feared for his safety. “We heard the sounds of the waves and then explosions.”
After 35 minutes of bombardment apparently directed at government positions, he said, he heard what sounded like the Ukrainian military firing back, although it was difficult to determine the exact situation at the late hour.
On Friday, envoys from Kiev and the pro-Russian rebel group signed an agreement to lay down their arms temporarily in the hope of finding a durable peace. Putin’s and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s telephone diplomacy last week helped hammer out the temporary truce, and earlier Saturday they had agreed in another telephone conversation that the cease-fire was “generally” holding up, according to statements released by each leader. They also discussed facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the war-torn regions of eastern Ukraine — the next step of the cease-fire along with a prisoner swap.
But there was no mention by either president of the long-term future of the rebel-held territories, a reminder of the tenuousness of the peace. At a NATO summit in Wales, where the Russia-Ukraine conflict was at the top of the agenda, Poroshenko on Friday offered more political and cultural autonomy for eastern Ukraine. His offer, though it was short on specifics, was similar to one made in June that was rejected by the rebels.
The Kremlin and the rebels have pushed for, at a minimum, vastly more political and economic independence for eastern Ukraine. Because of the region’s historic cultural and business ties to Russia, that would give the Kremlin far more say in Ukraine’s national destiny than many in Kiev would be comfortable with.
Some rebel leaders Friday said they would be satisfied with nothing less than full independence. That, Poroshenko said Saturday, would be a non-starter.
“I am ready to fight for my country, and I am sure a huge number of Ukrainian residents think the same. The territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine will remain as they are,” Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
Parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 26 make concessions particularly difficult for Poroshenko, since any deal that would in effect freeze the conflict would be unpopular among his supporters.
Some Ukrainian citizens fear that the country’s leadership decided to agree to a truce because its forces simply could not withstand the recent offensive in the region backed up by what NATO says are trained Russian troops.
“The Ukrainian government has to explain to its own nation exactly what is happening, and it hasn’t done so yet,” said Konstantin Batozsky, an adviser to Serhiy Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of Donetsk. He said many residents were highly skeptical that the cease-fire would endure.
“The people of Ukraine will not accept peace at any price,” he said.
In a measure of the low international expectations about the durability of the peace, the European Union readied new sanctions against Russia that it was due to approve Monday. The fresh measures would target the energy, finance and defense industries, along with more individuals. E.U. leaders said the sanctions could be rolled back if the truce holds.
Those plans met Saturday with a sharp rejoinder from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that the E.U. is “sending a signal of direct support to the party of war in Kiev.”
The International Red Cross, in a tweet, said that shelling Saturday in rebel-controlled territory forced an aid convoy destined for Luhansk to turn back. The organization did not say which side was doing the firing.
Birnbaum reported from Moscow. Alex Ryabchyn and Natalie Gryvnyak in Kiev contributed to this report.
