Ukraine says won’t pull back heavy weapons
DONETSK, Ukraine: A shaky new truce in Ukraine was already at risk on its second day yesterday asKievsaidtherewas‘noquestion’ of its troops pulling back heavy weapons, and the EU ratcheted up sanctions on Russia.
‘There is no question at the moment of us withdrawing heavy weapons’ f rom the frontline because of persistent attacks by pro-Russian rebels, a Ukrainian military spokesman, Vladyslav Seleznyov, told AFP.
Pulling back tanks, artillery and rockets from the frontline in Ukraine’s east is meant to take place from midnight (2200 GMT) yesterday as the second phase of a European-mediated truce agreed last week.
But while OSCE monitors said the ceasefire that came into effect on Sunday was being generally followed, shelling was unabated around Debaltseve, a strategic railway hub linking the two main rebel-held cities of Donestk and Lugansk. Thousands of government troops are in the hotspot town, mostly surrounded by pro-Russian separatists, some of whom have told AFP they were waiting for an order to take Debaltseve.
The situation aroundDebaltseve remains ‘dynamic’ after troops repelled several rebel assaults, Seleznyov told a Kiev media conference yesterday.
The separatists early yesterday ‘resumed shelling’ and destroyed Debaltseve’s police station without causing any casualties, a regional government official, Vyacheslav Abroskin, said on his Facebook page. Journalists were unable to safely access the town to verify the claims. Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had observed shelling around Debaltseve on Sunday but were barred access by rebels.
“We plan to go to Debaltseve today (yesterday), but that depends on several factors,” a member of the OSCE team, Iryna Gudyma, told AFP by telephone. “We cannot risk the lives of our observers.”
While tensions rose on the ground,theEuropeanUnionupped the ante on the diplomatic front, addingtwoRussiandeputydefence ministers, Anatoly Antonov and Arkady Bakhin, to its travel-ban and asset-freeze blacklist for allegedly sending Russian troops and materiel in to Ukraine to support the insurgency.
Russia has denied repeated allegations it has sent troops and tanks to support the pro-Russian rebels. The West, though, has imposed sanctions that, along with the sharp decline in oil prices, are accelerating the Russian economy’s slide into recession.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has committed to the peace deal that ultimately aims to end the bitter Ukraine conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since it started in April last year, and has sent East-West relations to lows not seen since the Cold War.
Separatists on Sunday told AFP they believed the ceasefire was just a pause, and that they would soon be ordered to launch an offensive to take the town. Despite the collapse of a similar ceasefire agreed back in September, and deep mistrust between the West and Russia, there is international investment in seeing this latest peace effort take root.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande mediated the truceinmarathontalksinBelarus last Wednesday and Thursday. — AFP BRUSSELS: The European Union included two Russian deputy defence ministers in its latest Ukraine sanctions list yesterday, hitting them with travel bans and asset freezes for their role in the conflict.
The EU’s Official Journal named Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov and first Deputy Minister of Defence Arkady Bakhin for supporting Russian troop deployments in Ukraine. Among three other Russians named were Joseph Kobzon and Valery Rashkin, members of the Duma (parliament).
The EU listed 14 Ukrainians, all military or political figures in the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, alongside nine entities. EU foreign ministers agreedthesanctionslatelastmonth after deadly attacks on the key port city of Mariupol killed more than 30 civilians but suspended their application as France and German led last ditch efforts to secure a Ukraine ceasefire.
EU leaders then decided at a summit Thursday to go ahead with the sanctions because, irregardless of the new peace effort, they were meant to punish those implicated in the Mariupol attacks. Publication of the names in the Official Journal puts the sanctions into effect.
The latest additions bring the total to 151 individuals and 37 entities. Brussels first imposed targeted sanctions on individuals after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 but adopted tougher economic measures after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July. — AFP