Cease-fire begins shakily as sides make accusations of fresh attacks
KIEV, Ukraine — A ceasefire was declared Sunday in east Ukraine at a minute after midnight, kindling slender hopes of a reprieve from a conflict that has claimed more than 5,300 lives.
But within two hours of the cease-fire’s start, the warring sides were already trading accusations of fresh attacks.
International attention will be focused in the coming days on the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve, where Ukrainian government forces for weeks have been fending off severe onslaughts from pro-Russia separatists.
The U.S. State Department said images from eastern Ukraine offer “credible pieces of evidence” that the Russian military has deployed larger amounts of artillery and multiple rocket launchers around Debaltseve to shell Ukrainian forces.
“We are confident that these are Russian military, not separatist systems,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a cease-fire order in a broadcast to the country’s armed forces to hold their fire from one minute after midnight Kiev time.
Accusations of violations were quick to follow.
Ukrainian security services chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said one infringement was reported about 50 minutes after the deadline. Artillery salvos were fired from an area that Nalyvaichenko said is under the control of a Cossack unit manned by Russian citizens.
Meanwhile, rebels accused the Ukrainians of deploying artillery shortly after midnight.
Donetsk News Agency, a separatist mouthpiece, cited senior rebel defense official Eduard Basurin as saying the Ukrainian forces garrisoned in Debaltseve fired artillery and mortars at rebel positions.
The hours before the ceasefire were marked by ferocious battles around Debaltseve, as Ukrainian armed forces undertook desperate attempts to gain control over a highway linking the town to their rearguard.
Speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov by telephone Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ex- pressed concern about what he called efforts by Russia and the separatists to cut off Debaltseve in advance of the cease-fire.
Separatist fighters insist they have fully encircled Debaltseve, which they say allows them to claim the territory as theirs. But Poroshenko said in his televised address that the road to the town remains open and that Ukrainian troops there had been resupplied with ammunition.