‘Great War’ may now be underway
Government forces retreat from Luhansk after clashes with rebels
Ukrainian forces retreated from a strategically vital airport in the east of the country Monday after coming under assault from separatist fighters reportedly backed by a Russian army tank column.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described the ferocious clashes at Luhansk airport as the latest step in Moscow’s “direct and open aggression.”
Valeriy Geletey, Ukraine’s defence minister, warned that a “great war” had broken out with Russia, saying it was a conflict “the likes of which Europe has not seen since the Second World War.”
Footage broadcast on Russian state television showed tanks firing as combat raged around the airport building, which appeared to have been heavily damaged during weeks of fighting.
“Luhansk. We are retreating. Long convoys of tanks, APCs and (trucks) full of rundown and exhausted soldiers are going past. Black from soot and dusty faces. Dried blood on their bulletproof vests. The men have endured a battle with a battalion of new Russian T-90 tanks,” Yuri Kasyanov, a Ukrainian activist delivering supplies to the front line, wrote on Facebook.
The Ukrainian retreat is the latest in a series of defeats at the hands of Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country in a conflict that the United Nations says has claimed 2,593 lives since mid-April. Human Rights Watch said more than 300 civilians had been killed in Luhansk and the surrounding area in the upsurge in fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Ukrainian army of firing indiscriminately in civilian areas. “(Separatists have) been provoked by regular Ukrainian forces that encircle large towns and shoot point-blank at residential areas. This is what, unfortunately, in a lot of countries, including Europe, they prefer not to notice,” Putin said.
The fighting came as Ukraine, Russia and the separatists met in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, for talks about a ceasefire. The meeting was adjourned without any recommendations until Friday. Putin described the meeting as “the beginning of a very important process” in which Ukraine was prepared for the first time to discuss the separatists’ demands.
Andrei Purgin, the separatists’ representative at the talks, did not demand independence but government autonomy and freedom to use Russian as the official language. The rebels’ platform appeared to reflect Putin’s desire to prevent more western sanctions while preserving the gains the separatists have made. European Union leaders have set a deadline of a week for the imposition of a new round of sanctions to punish Russia for sending tanks and troops into southeastern Ukraine.
Despite Kyiv’s assertions and mounting evidence on the ground of the presence of Russian troops, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that its military is operating inside Ukraine. But according to an Italian newspaper report, Putin recently told European Commission President José Manuel Barroso that Russian forces could sweep into Kyiv in two weeks if he wanted.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled that Germany is ready for any economic fallout from measures taken against Russia. “Being able to change borders in Europe without consequences, and attacking other countries with troops, is in my view a far greater danger than having to accept certain disadvantages for the economy,” Merkel said.
Russian reinforcements are responsible for rescuing the separat- ists from a crushing defeat, Geletey said, after their fortunes dramatically reversed over the past week. After being trapped in small areas around Luhansk and Donetsk, they pushed back Ukrainian troops and successfully opened a new front on the north coast of the Black Sea.
“Our military confidently pinned back the bands of Russian mercenaries, destroyed saboteurs and special forces,” Geletey said.
“Precisely because of this the Kremlin was forced to turn to a full-scale invasion with regular troops. Today we are dealing with divisions and regiments. Tomorrow it could be whole corps.”