Ukraine
says Russia withdrawing forces from east, sees boost for peace
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[September 10, 2014]
By Pavel Polityuk and Gareth Jones
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's president said
on Wednesday Russia had removed the bulk of its forces from his country,
raising hopes for a peace drive now underway after five months of
conflict in which more than 3,000 people have been killed.
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Moscow denies sending troops into eastern Ukraine to support
pro-Russian rebels battling Ukrainian forces, despite what Kiev and
its Western backers say is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Moscow also denies arming the separatists.
President Petro Poroshenko told a televised cabinet meeting Ukraine
would remain a sovereign, united country under the terms of a peace
roadmap approved last Friday, but said parts of the east under rebel
control would get special status.
"According to the latest information I have received from our
intelligence, 70 percent of Russian troops have been moved back
across the border," Poroshenko said. "This further strengthens our
hope that the peace initiatives have good prospects."
However, Poroshenko said the ceasefire was not proving easy to
maintain because "terrorists" were constantly trying to provoke
Kiev's forces.
Ukraine's military recorded at least six violations of the ceasefire
overnight but said there were no casualties. Five servicemen have
been killed during the ceasefire, Ukraine says. A civilian was also
killed at the weekend during shelling of the eastern port of
Mariupol.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Sep/10/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png) Poroshenko said Ukraine was regrouping its forces in eastern
Ukraine, not in preparation for a new offensive against the rebels,
as they have suggested, but in order to defend territory from
possible attack by the separatists.
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko
were broadly satisfied with how the ceasefire, in place for nearly
five days, was holding in Ukraine. The two leaders spoke by phone on
Tuesday for the second time this week.
OLIVE BRANCH
In his televised remarks, Poroshenko offered the rebels an olive
branch by saying he would propose a bill next week offering "special
status" to parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of eastern
Ukraine they now control.
But he was adamant in rejecting the separatists' demands for full
independence for their regions and the kind of radical
"federalization" favored by Russia.
"The Minsk protocol envisages the restoration and preservation of
Ukrainian sovereignty on all the territory of the Donbass (in
eastern Ukraine), including that controlled by the fighters,"
Poroshenko said.
"There is no question of federalization or separation of any
Ukrainian territory."
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The European Union and United States have imposed economic sanctions
against Russia over its role in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to
retaliate by banning most Western food imports.
The EU has prepared another wave of sanctions targeting Russia's
banking and energy sectors but has held off implementing them to see
whether the ceasefire holds.
On Wednesday, Poroshenko signed a law allowing Ukraine to impose its
own sanctions against Russian firms and individuals deemed to be
backing the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In Prague, the chairman of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the ceasefire,
said it would be reasonable to allow more time for the peace process
before imposing more sanctions against Russia.
Didier Burkhalter, who is president of Switzerland, also said the
OSCE would soon deploy drones to monitor the ceasefire.
Human rights group Amnesty International said in Moscow it had
documented evidence of war crimes by both sides and also repeated
criticism of Russia's role in the conflict.
"Amnesty International has called the conflict in Ukraine an
international conflict and Russia a party to that conflict," the
group's secretary general, Salil Shetty, told a news conference.
(Additional reporting by Tom Grove in Moscow, Jason Hovet and Jan
Lopatka in Prague; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Janet
Lawrence)
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