Germany Makes Another Push For Diplomatic Solution In Ukraine
Kyiv/Moscow (Alliance News) – Germany on Tuesday made a fresh push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine, as fresh fighting in the country’s east killed at least seven people.
German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier said during talks with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kyiv that Berlin will assist efforts to start political dialogue between Ukraine’s bitterly divided factions.
The Ukrainian government said it would hold a roundtable on “national unity” this Wednesday, but suggested that leaders of the armed rebellion would not be allowed to participate.
Separatists have not said if they would participate in the talks, which are supposed to be chaired by former German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger and former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk or Leonid Kuchma.
Yatsenyuk told reporters after the meeting with Steinmeier that it was not clear if Kravchuk or Kuchma will act as co-chairs.
Russia demanded that the EU and the US should use their influence over the leadership in Kyiv to initiate talks with the separatists “before the May 25 election,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement issued after talks between Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and EU ambassador Vygaudas Usackas.
Steinmeier said that the May 25 election was key for a political solution.
Analysts doubt that the vote can take place in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian rebels have effectively taken over control from the central government.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said Tuesday that six of its soldiers were killed and eight injured when they were ambushed by pro-Russian separatists south of Sloviansk. A spokesman for the separatists told Russia’s Interfax news agency that one member of the “self-defence forces” was killed near the rebel-controlled city. He added that the fighters had destroyed two armoured vehicles of the Ukrainian army.
Separatists in Luhansk said Tuesday that their leader had been injured in an assassination attempt. Valery Bolotov was hit by a bullet in the shoulder, probably by a sniper, a spokesman, Vasily Nikitin told the Interfax news agency. He added that Bolotov’s condition was improving and that he would return to work later this week.
The rebels said Monday that some 90% of participants in local referenda on Sunday supported secession from Ukraine.
The votes were condemned by the West and Ukraine as illegal, but the Russian Foreign Ministry said they should “serve as a clear signal for Kyiv about the depth of the crisis of understanding and of the Ukrainian statehood.”
After his talk with Steinmeier, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his government travelled to Brussels on Tuesday, where his finance minister signed EUR1 billion EU aid deal.
Yatsenyuk responded defiantly to Russian threats to cut off Ukraine’s gas supply, saying that Moscow is using the issue as a “new type of weapon”.
Kyiv will only pay its gas debts if Russia agrees to lower gas prices, Yatsenyuk told reporters.
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Monday that Kyiv would have to pay in advance from June or risk being cut off.
Yatsenyuk also accused Moscow of having “stolen” Ukrainian gas through the seizure of a gas company in Crimea.
Steinmeier later arrived in Odessa for talks with governor Ihor Palytsia. On the governor’s advice, the German foreign minister decided not to lay down a wreath for the 48 people who were killed in violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters in the Black Sea city earlier this month.
Copyright dpa
