Ukraine says rebels are firing rocket launchers

UKRAINIAN military officials said yesterday that separatist rebels in the east have resumed the use of rocket launchers that should have been withdrawn under a February peace deal.

The army said in a statement that rebels fired Grad rockets on Monday evening at the government-held town of Avdiivka, which lies on the fringes of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

There has been a recent increase in clashes along the front separating government and rebel forces.

Speaking at an investor conference in Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko warned that the resumption of full-blown war is a perennial threat. “War could start at any moment, but we are ready to do everything possible to dispel any room for doubts or retreats,” he said.

More than 6,000 people have died and another million have been displaced by the conflict that has raged over the past year.

A ceasefire tortuously negotiated by France, Germany and Russia in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, requires the warring sides to pull back their most powerful arms by distances over 30 miles.

Responsibility for checking whether the deal is being implemented lies with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The OSCE’S special monitoring mission said on Monday that its monitors have been prevented by rebels from visiting a location where heavy arms have allegedly been deployed. For the third time in four days, the rebels have prevented the mission “from freely accessing the eastern part of Shyrokyne,” the OSCE said in statement.

Shyrokyne lies on the front line and is a short distance east of the key port city of Mariupol, which is in government hands.