Pro-Russia Rebels Down Ukraine Jet as Fighting Escalates
Talks resume today to prevent a
cutoff by Russia of natural gas flows into Ukraine tomorrow,
even as riots broke out near the Russian embassy in Kyiv after
pro-Kremlin separatists shot down a Ukrainian military plane.
Negotiations involving Ukrainian, Russian and European
Union officials that started late yesterday will reconvene about
9 a.m. in Kyiv amid a national day of mourning for the 40
soldiers and nine crew members killed in the plane crash.
The transport plane came under anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire as it approached Luhansk airport in eastern Ukraine and
crashed shortly after 1 a.m. local time yesterday, authorities
including the Kyiv-based Prosecutor General’s Office said. The
49 deaths mark the deadliest strike on Ukrainian forces since
pro-Russian unrest in the nation’s two eastern regions began in
early April.
Ukrainian protesters gathered near the Russian embassy in
Kyiv starting at around 4 p.m. yesterday, demanding Russia stop
sponsoring the rebels. Demonstrators threw firecrackers and
eggs, broke some of the building’s windows with stones, and
turned over and torched at least three embassy cars.
The protest continued past midnight, as Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov asked Didier Burkhalter, head of the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to
intervene and use “all possible measures” to stem the
violence. In a statement, Lavrov said Ukraine authorities did
nothing to stop the attack.
‘Provocateurs’ Arrested
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said it was “doing everything”
to restore security to the embassy and that “police arrested
some provocateurs.”
On the natural gas issue, the EU has been trying to broker
a deal since last month.
“No solution has been found,” Ukrainian Energy Minister
Yuri Prodan told reporters after talks ended late last night.
“The European Commission proposed that talks continue. The
Ukrainian side agreed.”
The showdown over fuel heaps pressure on Ukraine’s new
president, Petro Poroshenko, who’s struggling to fulfill an
election pledge to halt an uprising by rebels in the country’s
eastern regions.
The EU is dependent on Russian gas piped through Ukraine
for about 15 percent of its supplies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Russian President
Vladimir Putin discussed the crisis and gas supplies before the
talks started yesterday, according to presidential offices in
Paris and Moscow.
Cut-Off Notice
Russia is represented in the negotiations by Alexey Miller,
chief executive officer of state-run OAO Gazprom. Ukrainian
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on June 13 instructed
authorities to prepare for a cutoff of gas once a debt payment
deadline of 10 a.m. tomorrow set by Gazprom expires. By then,
Ukraine must pay $1.95 billion to partially cover its debt for
past supplies, according to Gazprom.
Ukraine refused to pay after Russia raised the price of the
fuel by 81 percent in April. Putin stripped the country of a
2010 export-duty break that it exchanged for a lease on its
Black Sea fleet’s port in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March.
Gazprom rescinded a price discount granted to Ukraine in
December, citing mounting debt.
Broader Conflict
The gas conflict reflects the broader political crisis
between two former Soviet partners as Russia annexed Crimea
after Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed president was ousted in street
protests in February. Ukraine, along with the U.S and the EU,
accuses Russia of stoking turmoil in Ukraine by supporting pro-Russian separatists, including supplying them with weapons.
Russia has denied providing such support, while urging
Ukraine’s new government to do more to protect the rights of
Russian speakers in the eastern parts of the country.
Poroshenko announced the day of national mourning for those
aboard the downed IL-76 aircraft.
“All linked to this terrorist action of such scale will be
punished, for sure,” he said on his website.
The incident, which may fuel tensions between Moscow and
Washington, Ukraine’s main ally, came after the U.S. accused
Moscow of sending heavy weapons, including old-model tanks and
multiple-rocket launchers, to the rebels, who say they are
fighting a war against fascism and to join Russia.
Hollande and Merkel “emphasized the importance of rapidly
reaching a cease-fire agreement in Ukraine,” Hollande’s office
said in a statement. Measures were needed “in particular
avoiding the movement of fighters and arms across the border and
calling on the separatists to stop fighting,” they said.
More Violence
Five border guards were killed and seven wounded yesterday
when rebels attacked a convoy near the coastal town of Mariupol,
the State Border Service said on its website. Clashes also
spread to Shchastya, the city council of Luhansk said in a
statement. Shchastya is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of
Luhansk and 50 kilometers from the Russian border.
Rebels claimed to have shot down an SU-25 fighter jet over
Horlivka, according to Russia’s Interfax news service. The pilot
ejected and was captured, it said.
Ukraine’s hryvnia, this year’s worst-performing currency
against the dollar with a 30 percent plunge, fell 0.2 percent
last week in Kyiv, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The ruble
was little changed.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Daryna Krasnolutska in Kyiv at
dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;
Volodymyr Verbyany in Kyiv at
vverbyany1@bloomberg.net;
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net;
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net
Andrew J. Barden, Nerys Avery