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In Ukraine, pro-Russia rebels launch new offensive in port city of Mariupol In Ukraine, pro-Russia rebels launch new offensive in port city of Mariupol
(about 6 hours later)
MOSCOW — The leader of the pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk was quoted Saturday declaring that militias had launched a new offensive in Mariupol, a strategic port city in eastern Ukraine that is the final bastion of Ukrainian control separating Russia from the newly-annexed territory of Crimea. MOSCOW — The key port city of Mariupol became the latest flash point of rapidly intensifying hostilities in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, as a barrage of rocket fire struck the area, killing dozens of civilians, and pro-Russian rebels announced a push toward the strategic coastal city that serves as Ukraine's last bastion of control in the region.
Alexander Zakharchenko reportedly made the announcement just one day after Donetsk rebel leaders rejected a cease-fire agreement struck in September and promised to push their offensive all the way to the borders of the Donetsk region. The onslaught on Mariupol, which separates Russia from its newly annexed territory of Crimea, comes just a day after pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk rejected an existing cease-fire agreement and pledged to press their offensive all the way to the borders of the region.
“We have started an offensive on Mariupol,” Zakharchenko was quoted by Russian news service Interfax as saying during a flower-laying ceremony in Donetsk, at the site of a bus stop shelling that killed 13 people earlier this week. Saturday’s shelling sparked a fresh wave of outrage in Kiev and among its allies, who blame the rebels and Russia for the bloody event and warned that if Moscow did not withdraw support for the separatists, the West would step up already punishing pressure against Russia.
Zakharchenko later added that the rebels’ intention was to suppress Ukrainian troops to the east of the city, but not to storm Mariupol. But the quick and dramatic escalation of hostilities and the silence from the Kremlin Saturday as at the death toll climbed — at least 30 civilians, according to city officials — suggests that neither sanctions, nor low oil prices, nor other economic difficulties are likely to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to heed Western demands to help end the conflict.
Ukrainian officials had earlier accused pro-Russian rebels of launching a deadly shelling Saturday against Mariupol. The shelling killed 27 civilians and wounded 99, Andrey Fedai of the Mariupol City Council posted on his Facebook page. Donetsk rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko announced the Mariupol offensive on Saturday during a memorial service to the victims of a recent bus stop shelling in Donetsk, calling it “the best monument to all our dead,” according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Rebel leaders were quoted on one of their Web sites saying Kiev’s reports of militants shelling were “misinformation and lies.” Zakharchenko later clarified on a rebel Web site that the drive on Mariupol was to “suppress” the Ukrainian troops to the east of it, not storm the city. He also charged that the shelling of civilians was an incident of friendly fire by Ukrainian forces, who then tried to blame the rebels for their mistake.
“The militias did not open fire in the direction of Mariupol, especially the residential areas,” the rebels’ defense ministry said, according to the Web site, while Eduard Basurin, deputy commander of the Donetsk rebels, told Russian news service Interfax that government forces had shelled Mariupol in “an act of provocation.” But Ukrainian officials said at least three Grad rocket-launching systems had fired on Mariupol and squarely blamed the rebels for the civilian deaths. President Petro Poroshenko called the shelling “a crime against humanity.” And National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said, “Putin is directly responsible.”
Pro-Kiev forces in Mariupol said Saturday on its VKontake page that the shelling had come from rebel-held territory, while Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said that “at least three Grad systems” — referring to rocket-launchers — were used in the shelling. Kiev and its allies believe the rebels’ new offensive on Mariupol and Debaltseve — a strategically important city on the route from Donetsk to Luhansk — along with other areas of eastern Ukraine is being fueled by Russian reinforcements. Ukrainian officials said over 9,000 Russian troops are operating in Ukraine this week.
Mariupol has been under the control of the Ukrainian government, save for a brief period during the early months of fighting when it was under the control of pro-Russian rebels frustrated with the country’s pro-Western leadership in Kiev. In June, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko even declared it the temporary capital of the Donetsk region, while the separatists were in control of Donetsk city. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry also decried Russia on Saturday for its “irresponsible and dangerous decision” to resupply rebels in recent weeks, warning that if Russia did not pull back “all weapons, fighters and financial backing” for the separatists, “U.S. and international pressure on Russia and its proxies will only increase.”
The area around Mariupol was the scene of intense fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels during the late summer, as rebels — backed by Russian support, Ukrainian officials maintained — made a push for the city, shortly before the two sides agreed to a cease-fire in Minsk, Belarus, in early September. Neither the Kremlin nor Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacted to the deadly events in Mariupol on Saturday. But Russian officials have routinely denied Western accusations that they are sending troops or weapons into eastern Ukraine to support the pro-Russian rebels fighting there.
But that cease-fire is now effectively dead, after pro-Russian rebel leaders in Donetsk said Friday they were no longer recognizing it and would not initiate any new peace talks. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov also cautioned the West against trying to push Putin through sanctions Friday, saying that a Russian would “never, never turn away and give up his leader” because of outside pressure, and warning that continued economic sanctions against Russia “will be a bleeding wound for decades.”
Ukrainian officials, backed by their Western allies, said that they saw the hand of Russia behind Saturday’s reported shelling of Mariupol, warning that the shelling could be part of a larger plan. The United States and Europe have applied several rounds of sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its involvement in Ukraine.
“Today’s indiscriminate shelling of Mariupol [is] part of an apparently Russian-backed general offensive in complete violation of Minsk agreements,” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt tweeted Saturday morning. Since clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists began in April, Mariupol has largely been under the control of the government in Kiev.
Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, called the shelling a “bloody crime against humanity” and said that “Putin is directly responsible” — even accusing him of having ordered the shelling at a Friday meeting with the Russian Security Council. But the area around Mariupol was the scene of intense fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels during the late summer, as rebels — backed by Russian support, Ukrainian officials maintained — made a push for the city. That was shortly before the two sides agreed to a cease-fire in Minsk, Belarus, in early September.
By midday Saturday, neither the Kremlin nor the Foreign Ministry had yet reacted to the reports of shelling in Mariupol. But Russian officials have routinely denied Western accusations that they have sent troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine to support the pro-Russian rebels fighting there. That cease-fire is now effectively dead, after pro-Russian rebel leaders in Donetsk said Friday they were no longer recognizing it and would not initiate any new peace talks.
“Concerning the ‘flow of troops and weapons,’ we are constantly hearing this,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a news conference Wednesday. “Every time I say: ‘If you say this with such confidence, show us the facts.’ ”
Putin blamed Kiev for ignoring a new peace proposal he had drafted and sent to Poroshenko last week and instead, starting “large-scale fighting on almost the entire perimeter of contact between the opposing sides,” he said Friday, in comments made during a meeting of the Russian Security Council.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry accused “Russian-backed separatists” of trying to pull off “a very blatant land grab” in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said this week that more than 9,000 Russian troops are operating in Ukrainian territory. NATO’s top commander could not verify that number Thursday, though he said NATO had observed some signs consistent with “past Russian troop movements into Ukraine.”
The United Nations estimated Friday that almost 5,100 people have died in Ukraine since the fighting began last April — 262 in the past nine days before the updated figure was published, making it the deadliest period since this summer, before the Minsk cease-fire agreement was signed.The United Nations estimated Friday that almost 5,100 people have died in Ukraine since the fighting began last April — 262 in the past nine days before the updated figure was published, making it the deadliest period since this summer, before the Minsk cease-fire agreement was signed.