1ST LEAD Ukraine suggests imminent attack on separatist-held cities By …
Geneva/Kyiv (dpa) – Ukraine said Tuesday that its forces were
preparing to take control of the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and
Luhansk, where the humanitarian situation was rapidly deteriorating
according to local authorities.
The United Nations said that some 730,000 people have left the region
for Russia, while Russia reiterated that it wants a “humanitarian
mission” deployed in eastern Ukraine.
Government forces have taken up positions in both cities‘ suburbs,
but more preparatory work is necessary to recapture them, Andriy
Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine‘s National Security and Defence
Council said in Kyiv, local media reported.
“We won‘t announce the beginning of our offensive – we will only talk
about the liberation of these cities,” Lysenko was quoted as saying.
Authorities in Luhansk said Tuesday that the city‘s 250,000 remaining
inhabitants are without water or electricity as a result of a week of
fighting, while rubbish collection has also stopped.
They spoke of a “humanitarian catastrophe” that would particularly
affect families with children, as well as the elderly.
Luhansk had a population of more than 400,000 before the conflict
began in April.
In Donetsk, an increasing number of people are fleeing following an
urgent appeal by the army to leave the area, local authorities said.
Media reports on Monday suggested that government forces started to
storm the industrial city, which has a peacetime population of almost
one million. But Lysenko suggested that these reports were premature.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the international community must be
mobilized to help the civilian population and criticized Ukraine for
ignoring the problem.
“Kyiv authorities‘ refusal to cooperate over humanitarian assistance
is absolutely irresponsible,” the ministry said, adding that Moscow
would continue to push for the formation of a humanitarian mission.
The ministry did not say what mission that would be, but Ukraine has
in the past rejected Russian suggestions of sending peacekeeping
forces to the region.
The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday that some 730,000 people have
left Ukraine for Russia so far this year to escape the conflict.
Only 168,000 of them have registered with Russia‘s federal migration
service, and an even smaller number have applied for asylum, a
spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in
Geneva.
“While they are technically not refugees, they are certainly not
tourists,” spokesman Dan McNorton said of the 730,000, a figure
derived from Russian government statistics and the UNHCR‘s own
analysis.
In addition, 117,000 Ukrainians have become displaced within their
own country.
Despite intense combat in the region, 110 experts from the
Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia continued searching for victims‘
remains at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, said the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which
has been negotiating access for the specialists.
On Monday, the experts were able to work at the location for only 90
minutes because of security concerns.
The OSCE also confirmed that several hundred Ukrainian soldiers had
crossed into Russia after being surrounded by separatists close to
the border.
OSCE observers based in Russia witnessed the passage of 437 Ukrainian
servicemen on Monday. They were sent to a nearby transit facility
and, according to local Russian authorities, all of them were set to
return to Ukraine, the organization said.