Eastern Ukraine fighting takes deadly turn after Poroshenko announces victory
Fighting continued Tuesday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk after Ukrainian forces dislodged pro-Russian separatists from the airport Monday, with the separatists reportedly sustaining heavy losses.
Rebel troops moved to seize Ukraine’s second largest airport in Donetsk, the Sergei Prokofiev International Airport, after announcement of Sunday’s election result.
They were dislodged by Ukrainian government forces that attacked with paratroopers, combat jets and helicopter gunships, according to the Associated Press.
The battle for the airport erupted within hours after the billionaire confectionary businessman Petro Poroshenko declared victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.
Poroshenko is known as a strong supporter of Ukraine forging stronger ties with Europe.
The fighting lasted all day and night with heavy gunfire and thick plumes of smoke rising into the air from the airport. City officials shut down the airport and all roads leading to it.
The mayor of Donetsk Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, appeared on television urging people in the city to stay indoors while the fighting lasts. He said that 40 people, including two civilians, were killed in the fighting between separatists and Ukrainian forces.
However, a leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, later said that the death toll could be up to 100. He claimed that half of the dead could be civilians but the Associated Press said it could not independently verify the claim.
Leonid Baranov, a spokesperson for the insurgents in Donetsk, said that corpses of about 30 insurgents were brought to the Kalinin morgue.
The Washington Post reports that another Donetsk separatist leader, Pavel Gubarev, confirmed in a post to Facebook Tuesday that a rocket-propelled grenade hit a truck that was carrying wounded separatists from the airport battle scene. He said 35 men were killed and 15 injured.
Baranov said the bodies of other dead fighters could not be recovered because they were in government-controlled areas. He said hundreds of fighters were also wounded in the fighting at the airport.
Ukraine’s interior minister Arsen Avakov said that Ukrainian forces gained full control of the airport Tuesday morning. He did not give specific casualty figures but said in a post to Facebook that “dozens” of rebel fighters were killed in the fighting.
In the neighboring self-declared Republic of Luhansk, Ukrainian forces reportedly clashed with insurgents who were trying to cross the border from Russia into Ukraine.
According to government sources, Ukrainian security agents seized vehicles loaded with small arms, including assault rifles, rocket grenade launchers and explosives.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov [Unlink] has welcomed Poroshenko’s statement that he would hold talks with Russia and eastern Ukrainian representatives. But he said Russia was worried about the intensification of the military operation in the east. He called on Kyiv to seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis through dialogue.
Lavrov also said that Moscow will not accept US and EU mediation in the proposed talks. But Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine will not hold talks with Russia without the presence of the US and the EU.
The authorities in Moscow have denied charges that they are behind the rebellion in eastern Ukraine. Although he annexed the former Ukrainian autonomous region of Crimea, Putin has shown no inclination to respond to calls by the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine for accession to Russia.
Russia’s position is that the Ukraine should adopt a federalizing constitution which decentralizes government and grants more power to the regions.
Commentary
With the withdrawal of Russian forces and the successful completion of the presidential election, Kyiv is gaining confidence that it can win the fight for unity of the country.
A successful transition from an unelected interim government to an elected government strengthens Kyiv’s constitutional legitimacy and encourages it to take bolder action to assert its authority in the east.
The conciliatory tones from Moscow could only further signal to Kyiv that it is time to push aggressively to retake eastern Ukraine.
The fighting that erupted within hours of Poroshenko’s declaration of victory in the election signals Kyiv’s resolve to step up military action against separatists in eastern Ukraine. Despite the president-elect’s promise to seek a negotiated resolution of the crisis, he denounced the separatists, describing them as “Somali pirates.”
Poroshenko’s vow to step up “anti-terrorist” action in the east is consistent with the expectation that the interim government will intensify armed action in the east ahead of the inauguration of the new elected government and after.
While the leaders in Kyiv are pragmatic enough to acknowledge the need to start talks with Russia as a way to lasting resolution of the crisis, they will not want to give any impression of weakness.
After having withdrawn troops from the border with Ukraine, Russia can no longer maintain a credible threat of military action against Ukraine. Kyiv would want to take advantage of the withdrawal to push hard to gain a stronger hand against the Russians.
But the Ukrainians could not be under any illusion that ultimately there can be peace in eastern Ukraine without a deal with Russia.
Putin’s goal would remain to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and to press for federalization of the country. The fact that each side would want to come to come to the negotiating table with a stronger hand to extract concessions means that we can expect an escalation of armed conflict ahead of opening of talks by the new government.
It is clear that having backed down on threat of naked force Putin would resort to covert subversive activity in eastern Ukraine to force Kyiv to come to the table with acceptable terms.
A situation of permanent insurgent crisis in Kyiv in the absence of negotiated settlement would be a relatively convenient state for Moscow to maintain, but very inconvenient for the new government in Kyiv what would be anxious to settle down to national rebuilding after the crisis.