Eastern Ukraine tense after battle
Military claims 80 rebels killed in area of Donetsk suburb
DONETSK, Ukraine — Separatist and government troops in eastern Ukraine stood nervously poised hundreds of yards apart Thursday after a bloody battle that has threatened to demolish what remains of a brittle cease- fire there.
President Petro Poroshenko warned Thursday of a possible large- scale offensive by separatist forces after the violence on the western fringe of the rebel citadel, Donetsk.
But the mood among rebel combatants huddled in a wooded base just beyond the Donetsk suburb of Marinka, where Wednesday’s fighting was centered, suggested only frustration at the lack of a clear battle plan.
“We can’t just sit here in trenches. I think we should only go forward, forward and forward,” said one separatist fighter, who identified himself only by his pseudonym, Abaza.
A journalist who visited Marinka briefly Thursday observed that it appeared to be under the control of Ukrainian government troops, who said they were performing mop- up operations.
The official tally of fighters killed attests to the battle for Marinka being the biggest that eastern Ukraine has seen since February, when an internationally brokered armistice was signed.
Ukraine said five of its servicemen died in combat Wednesday, four of them in or around Marinka. Eduard Basurin, a separatist spokesman, said 14 rebel fighters and five civilians were killed by Ukrainian fire during the day, but he provided no details.
Rebel fighters admitted privately, however, that they likely lost dozens of men. Ukrainian military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko claimed about 80 rebels were killed.
The task of monitoring the February cease- fire lies with a mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A special report
hastily compiled by the organization after Wednesday’s fighting strongly suggests the violence was the result of a rebel initiative.
Observers saw multiple armored vehicles moving west through Donetsk on the eve of the battle. The organization reported hearing about 100 outgoing artillery rounds fired at daybreak from a location within separatist- held territory. More heavy fire followed throughout the day.
Rebels insisted they were acting solely in defense against a Ukrainian assault. Their foray into Marinka and their temporary capture of several buildings, including the hospital, were merely a counterattack, they said.
“We pushed them as far as we could, then we held our positions, then we retreated,” said a rebel commander, who identified himself as Dikiy. “There was a violent fight, a heavy fight, from 5 a. m. to 5 p. m.”
Michael Bociurk iw, spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission, urged all sides in the conflict to “exercise maximum restraint.”
Bociurkiw also said observers in recent days had found that some heavy weapons that had been pulled back by both sides were missing from the areas where they were being stored.
“This suggests noncompliance” with the cease- fire accord, which requires both sides to pull back large weapons in order to create a buffer zone, Bociurkiw said.
An Associated Press reporter Thursday saw two Grad missile launchers being driven toward the governmentcontrolled town of Artemivsk. Under the cease- fire accord, such weapons were to be withdrawn from that area.
The Ukrainian military freely admitted it used heavy arms in its effort to retain Marinka but said it was left with no choice.
A part of the military’s firepower landed a direct strike on the base from which rebel infantry mounted its offensive. The converted stables set in a copse just within the limits of Donetsk were still smoldering Thursday afternoon.
Several of the fighters — many among them from Russia — complained wearily that their travel documents were among the personal possessions consumed in the blaze.
Russia has strongly denied sending weapons or troops to back the rebels, despite a broad array of evidence indicating otherwise.
Asked whether President Vladimir Putin could again seek the parliament’s permission for using Russian troops abroad as he did early in the Ukrainian crisis, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin has the right, but emphasized the need to fulfill the cease- fire agreement and avoid steps aimed at escalation of tensions.
Despite fears of a possible full- blown resumption of combat, offensives reverted Thursday to the sporadic shelling that has become a hallmark of the Ukrainian conflict, which has claimed more than 6,400 lives since April 2014.
Information for this article was contributed by Yevgeny Maloletka, Dmitry Vlasov, Lorne Cooke and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.