This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/as-fighting-deepens-in-eastern-ukraine-death-toll-rises/2015/01/19/f0fabba0-9dac-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html?wprss=rss_world

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
As fighting deepens in eastern Ukraine, death toll rises As fighting deepens in eastern Ukraine, casualties rise and truce is all but dead
(about 5 hours later)
MOSCOW — Intensifying battles, mounting death tolls and dire new warnings from Russia have marked some of the worst fighting in eastern Ukraine since last summer, rendering a months-old cease-fire agreement effectively defunct. MOSCOW — Intensifying battles, mounting death tolls and new accusations of Russian interference in eastern Ukraine have marked some of the worst fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists since last summer, rendering a months-old cease-fire agreement effectively defunct.
Government troops and pro-Russia separatists have been trading heavy fire at the Donetsk airport, a prize that, though more symbolic than strategic, has been the epicenter of punishing recent attacks that have reduced much of the airport to rubble. Each side has claimed to have wrested control of the airport at various points, but militia and army fighters continued to launch strikes against each other throughout the weekend and into Monday. The two sides have been trading heavy fire at the Donetsk airport, a prize that, though more symbolic than strategic, has been the center of punishing recent attacks that have reduced much of the facility to rubble. Each side has claimed control of the airport at various points, but militia and army fighters there continued to launch strikes against each other over the past several days.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, meanwhile, accused Russia on Monday of having sent “two battalions”of its troops across the border. That assertion, which could not be independently confirmed, follows months of accusations from both Kiev and NATO that Russia has been fueling the separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine with a steady stream of weapons and personnel. Russia has routinely denied such accusations, maintaining that it is Kiev that is intent on furthering the conflict. The Ukrainian army was attacked by “regular military formations” of the Russian army, Col. Andriy Lysenko, the Ukrainian military spokesman, said Tuesday. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said Monday that Russia had sent “two battalions” — about 800 soldiers — across the border. Lysenko added Tuesday that three more battalions had approached the Russia-Ukraine border from the Russian side.
But the revived tensions have inspired stern rebukes from Moscow, where Kremlin officials charged that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed a new peace plan offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that would “take urgent measures to cease fire” and pull back large weapons to lines agreed upon in September. Those assertions, which could not be independently confirmed, follow months of accusations from both Kiev and NATO that Russia has been fueling the separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine with a steady stream of weapons and personnel. Russia has routinely denied such accusations, maintaining that it is Kiev that is intent on furthering the conflict.
“It’s the biggest, even a strategic mistake by the Ukrainian authorities to use force to resolve the crisis,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Russian news service Interfax on Monday. “It may lead to irreversible consequences for Ukrainian statehood.” The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, bolstered Ukraine’s accusations Tuesday, saying that the United States was alarmed by what he called a Russian-provoked military escalation, coupled with the arrival of large quantities of weaponry from Russian territory, according to the Russian Interfax news service. The renewed tensions have also prompted stern rebukes from Moscow, where Kremlin officials charged that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed a new peace plan that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered last week. It proposed that the sides in the conflict “take urgent measures to cease fire” and pull back large weapons to lines agreed upon in September.
Putin’s claim to have authored a specific new plan for a trucecomes as mediated talks between the sides — intended to secure the borders and ensure the removal of foreign fighters from Ukraine — appear to be breaking down. “It’s the biggest, even a strategic mistake by the Ukrainian authorities to use force to resolve the crisis,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax on Monday. “It may lead to irreversible consequences for Ukrainian statehood.”
The Kremlin said Putin proposed his plan to Poroshenko on Thursday, the same day French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders had been scheduled to meet in Kazakhstan to discuss the Ukraine crisis. Ukrainian leaders acknowledged that Kiev received the letter in which Putin outlined his proposals for a truce. But they denied that Ukrainian soldiers have breached the cease-fire, defending the military’s actions as legitimate responses to breaches of the cease-fire by pro-Russian rebels.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel — widely seen as Putin’s closest negotiating contact in Europe — called off the meeting, saying that not enough progress had been made on the peace plan agreed upon in Minsk in September. Mediated talks between representatives of the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia separatists scheduled for the next day also failed to proceed. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told reporters Tuesday that pro-Russian separatists were “taking advantage” of the military’s compliance to seize “very substantial territory — more than 500 square kilometers.”
U.S. and European leaders say any discussion of rolling back economic sanctions against Russia over its involvement in Ukraine depends on Moscow’s support for implementing the terms of the Minsk agreement — a deal struck between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian officials. On Monday, European Union leaders said there were no plans to ease the economic sanctions, given the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine. Putin’s proposal came as mediated talks between the sides appeared to be breaking down.
Kiev maintains that it has long been offering Russia an “immediate cease-fire” to end the conflict, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Monday via Twitter, as long as Russia commits to honoring the Minsk peace plan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel — widely seen as Putin’s closest negotiating contact in Europe — cancelled plans for a meeting involving France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in Kazakhstan last Thursday, saying that not enough progress had been made on the peace plan that rebels and Ukrainian officials agreed on in Belarus in September. Mediated talks between representatives of the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists that had been scheduled for the next day also were cancelled.
Poroshenko said Monday that he was ready to call another summit “immediately” to ensure that the parties keep moving forward on the Minsk agreement. A new round of talks had been scheduled for Wednesday in Berlin.
In the meantime, the death toll in eastern Ukraine is mounting. The United Nations estimates that more than 4,700 people have been killed in the fighting there since April. Meanwhile, Russia’s relationship with its European partners beyond talks on Ukraine continues to be tense. U.S. and European leaders say any discussion of rolling back economic sanctions against Russia over its involvement in Ukraine depends on Moscow’s support for the agreement reached in Belarus. On Monday, European Union leaders said there were no plans to ease the economic sanctions, given the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said Monday that in the previous day, three soldiers had died and another 66 had been wounded in the hostilities. That was before some of Monday’s heaviest fighting took place — including an explosion that caused the floor to collapse in an airport terminal where Ukrainian troops were located, Ukrainian presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov said on Facebook. In the meantime, the death toll in the conflict zone is mounting. The United Nations estimates that more than 4,800 people have been killed in the fighting there since April.
Civilian deaths also appear to be increasing Rebels said that a hospital in Donetsk was struck Monday and that dozens died in military airstrikes Sunday in Horlivka, according to Russian news outlets. Last week, 13 civilians died when a bus they were on was shelled in eastern Donetsk — the largest loss of civilian life in a single event since a truce deal was signed in September. Civilian casualties also appear to be increasing. A grenade attack was carried out against a group of Ukrainian nationalists in the government-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, the same day a hospital in Donetsk was also struck. Rebels claimed dozens more were killed or injured in Ukrainian airstrikes in Horlivka on Sunday. Last week, 13 civilians died when a bus was shelled in eastern Donetsk — the largest single loss of civilian life since the September truce.