Rebels reject leader’s idea of cease-fire
DONETSK, Ukraine - After Ukraine’s newpresident, Petro Poroshenko, told reporters in Kiev on Wednesday that he soon might order a temporary, unilateral cease-fire as part of a broader 14-point peace plan, it took all of several seconds for pro-Russian militants to rule it out.
“I am a condemned man,” said a stick-thin fighter who, like many others here, identified himself only by an alias, Tarik, for security reasons.
Any cease-fire certainly would be violated by the Ukrainian army, he said, adding that other pro-Russian separatists and he would be arrested the minute the government had the opportunity.
“What peace can they possibly offer me?” he said. “If they want peace, then they can leave.”
Tarik and a dozen other rank-and-file fighters here reacted to Poroshenko’s proposal with a dark, belligerent skepticism. Most rejected the idea of disarming until a patchwork of amorphous conditions were met, suggesting that a truce would be awfully difficult to achieve.
Some demanded that the Ukrainian military leave the region, called Donbass, while others wanted a war tribunal for Ukraine’s newly elected leaders. Most said they wanted the res- toration of “stability,” the precise definition of which remained elusive.
The responses seemed to afford little hope that, as Poroshenkourged, a ceasefire “should receive support from all participants in the events in Donbass.”
Toward that end, the president’s office announced that Poroshenko would meet Thursday with what his office called the “legitimate” leaders from the east, including mayors and business representatives.
The Russian government has called repeatedly for Ukraine to stop its military crackdown on the separatists but also has insisted that it does not control or speak for the separatists.
But rebel leaders quickly dismissed Poroshenko’s proposal.
Denis Pushilin, one of the leaders of the political wing of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said he thought it was “pointless,” suggesting it was the latest trick by Kiev to subdue the fighters.
In Kiev, Poroshenko told reporters that he planned to announce the cease-fire as part of a wider peace plan to end the more than two months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko’s discussion of the peace plan followed a phone call late Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in which both sides said the ceasefire was a main topic.