Shelling Near Mariupol, Donetsk Shatters Ukraine Cease-Fire
Explosions and artillery fire have been reported outside the eastern Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Donetsk despite a day-old cease-fire between Kyiv and pro-Russia rebels.
Witnesses in Mariupol told AP by telephone that heavy explosions were coming from the city’s eastern outskirts, where Ukrainian troops retain defensive lines against the rebels.
The volunteer, pro-Kyiv Azov Battalion said on Facebook that its positions were hit overnight by Grad rockets but did not give details.
Mariupol is a port city of about half a million people on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
Rebels recently opened a new front on the coast, leading to fears that the separatists were trying to secure a land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in March.
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Steady shelling was heard near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine early on September 7, with plumes of black smoke raising fears that cease-fire was on the verge of collapse.
The shelling came from an area near Donetsk airport, which has been controlled by Ukrainian government forces but attacked regularly since May by Russian-backed separatists.
Peace Process?
The presidents of Ukraine and Russia said on September 6 that the cease-fire was mostly holding, but the truce still appeared fragile as both sides of the conflict claimed violations.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed steps “for giving the cease-fire a stable character” in a telephone conversation on September 6.
The Kremlin said both leaders expressed satisfaction “with the fact that the sides of the conflict were overall observing the cease-fire regime.”
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council, said rebels had fired at Ukrainian forces on 10 occasions after the cease-fire took effect.
A top rebel leader, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, claimed government forces had violated the cease-fire early with two rounds of shelling in the town of Amvrosiivka, about 50 kilometers southeast of Donetsk.
“At this time the cease-fire agreement is not being fully observed,” he said. He didn’t say when the supposed breach occurred.
Lysenko said Ukrainian forces were strictly observing the cease-fire and suggested that Zakharchenko’s claim was a provocation.
Meanwhile, the International Committee for the Red Cross said on its Twitter account that its workers had tried to deliver food aid to the city of Luhansk on September 6 but turned back after shooting northeast of the city.