|
 Within hours of Poroshenko's early morning announcement, the
military went into action against rebel bases and checkpoints in the
east which has been in separatist ferment since April.
Saying Ukrainian forces had launched attacks "from the air and
land", the defense ministry said: "The terrorists' plan to
significantly escalate armed confrontation has been disrupted and
the threat of losses to the civilian population and service
personnel has been liquidated."
There was no immediate word on casualties.
Poroshenko, who accuses Russia of fanning the conflict and allowing
fighters and equipment to cross the border to support the rebels,
turned his back on another renewal of a 10-day unilateral ceasefire
after four-way telephone talks involving the German and French
leaders and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Showing impatience at what he had heard from Putin, Poroshenko said
in his early morning statement that Ukraine had not seen "concrete
steps for de-escalating the situation, including strengthening
controls on the border."
In Moscow, the foreign ministry hinted that the United States stood
behind Poroshenko's decision not to extend the ceasefire.
"There is an impression that the change in Kiev's position ... could
not have come about without influence from abroad, despite the
position of leading EU member states," it said in a statement.
Separately, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament called
for a new ceasefire. "We think that without a truce, without the
start of dialogue, it is simply impossible to restore peace, justice
and law and order in Ukraine," Sergei Naryshkin, an ally of Putin,
was quoted as saying.
Poroshenko, just over three weeks in office, is also facing rising
anger at home and from the new political establishment over military
losses. He is under pressure to switch to more forceful action
against the rebels after a ceasefire which many say was used by the
rebels to regroup and rearm.
A statement tweeted by the Ukrainian foreign ministry on Monday
night said 27 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 69 wounded
since the ceasefire began on June 20.
"DIRT AND PARASITES"
Poroshenko, announcing the military would now act to answer the
"terrorists, militants and marauders", accused the rebels of failing
to keep to the truce or follow a peace plan he had outlined. Later
on his Facebook page, the 48-year-old leader warned the future would
be difficult, adding: "we must be united, because we are fighting to
free our land from dirt and parasites."
"After the president's speech, the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation)
went into action. We opened artillery fire, carried out air strikes
at the strategic points of the terrorists and places where they are
concentrated," military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkovsky said.
Rebels had fired on an SU-25 attack aircraft, damaging it, but the
plane had manage to land safely at its air base, he said. He denied
a rebel report that a military helicopter had been brought down. One
Ukrainian serviceman had been killed and 17 wounded in the past 24
hours in rebel attacks on Ukrainian posts, Dmytrashkovsky said.
Poroshenko said he was willing to return to a ceasefire "at any
moment" if it became clear that all sides were ready to carry out
all aspects of the peace plan, including the freeing of hostages and
creating effective border controls.
[to top of second column] |
Poroshenko had extended a government ceasefire last week until 10
p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday to allow for peace talks with a contact
group involving separatist leaders, a former Ukrainian president, a
senior representative of the OSCE rights and security body and
Moscow's ambassador to Kiev.
"The unique chance to implement the peace plan was not realized. It
happened because of the criminal actions of the militants. They
publicly declared their unwillingness to support the peace plan as a
whole and in particular the ceasefire," Poroshenko said.
EU SANCTIONS
Pro-Russian separatism erupted in Ukraine's east in April after
street protests in Kiev toppled a Moscow-backed president, Viktor
Yanukovich, after he had walked away from a free trade deal with the
European Union that would shift Ukraine westwards.
Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and separatist rebels in
Ukraine's Russian-speaking east seized buildings and strategic
points, declaring "people's republics" and saying they wanted union
with Russia.
Poroshenko last Friday signed the EU deal which Yanukovich baulked
at in defiance of threats by Russia to carry out retaliatory trade
action.
Moscow could face more penalties from the EU on top of existing
asset freezes and visa bans unless pro-Russian rebels act to wind
down the crisis in the Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
EU leaders said on Friday they were ready to meet again at any time
to adopt more sanctions on Russia. Diplomats said they could target
new people and companies with asset freezes as early as next week.
More than 60 names are already on the list.
Although it has drawn up a list of hard-hitting economic sanctions,
the EU is still hesitating over deploying them because of fears
among some member states of antagonizing Russia, their major energy
supplier.
(Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova in Moscow, Thomas Grove in
Kiev and Maria Tsvetkova in Slaviansk, editing by Peter Millership)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
