Ukraine set to launch dialogue under OSCE plan

KIEV — A reluctant Ukrainian government agreed to launch discussions Wednesday on giving more powers to the regions under a peace plan brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, but it remains wary of engaging with pro-Russian insurgents who have declared independence in two eastern regions.

Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was to chair the first in a series of round tables set to include national lawmakers, government figures and regional officials in line with proposals drafted by the OSCE, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group that includes Russia and the United States.

Russia has strongly backed the Swiss-drafted road map, but Ukraine has remained cool to the plan and U.S. officials view its prospects for success skeptically.

Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian insurgents seized administrative buildings, fought government forces and declared independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after a controversial weekend referendum. The Ukrainian government and Western powers have rejected the referendum as a sham.

Speaking in Brussels Tuesday, Yatsenyuk thanked the OSCE for its plan but said Ukraine has its own plan for ending the crisis and said the people of his country should settle the issue themselves. He disclosed no details of that plan.

Ukrainian forces have mounted an offensive against the armed insurgents, and dozens have died in the fighting across the east. On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said six soldiers were killed by insurgents who ambushed a convoy near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

On Wednesday morning, AP journalists saw charred carcasses of a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and a truck at the site of the clash.