Three dead as Kyiv accuses Ukraine rebels of shelling
* NATO says picture shows ceasefire holding
* Kyiv, rebels accuse each other of violating truce
* West, Russia say monitors should play greater role
(Adds Western leaders holding video conference)
By Pavel Polityuk and Maria Tsvetkova
KYIV/DONETSK, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) – Three Ukrainian
servicemen were killed and nine wounded as pro-Russian rebels
shelled government positions despite a ceasefire deal, the
military said on Tuesday, announcing Kyiv’s highest casualty
toll in several days.
The losses underscore the fragility of a two-week-old
ceasefire agreement which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
has called the last chance for peace between Kyiv and the
separatists he says are being armed by Russia.
After the separatists initially ignored the ceasefire to
launch one of the biggest offensives of the war, fighting
finally slowed down dramatically last week. In recent days both
sides have been withdrawing artillery from the front line, the
next stage in a peace agreement brokered by France and Germany.
Both sides still accuse each other on a daily basis of
breaking the truce, however, and Tuesday’s shelling appeared
more intense than in previous days.
In rebel-held Donetsk, among the ruins of the city’s
airport, artillery fire was heard coming towards rebel positions
from the direction of Ukraine’s frontline stronghold of Pisky.
“We have no mortar rockets anywhere here. We have already
withdrawn everything bigger than 100 millimetres in accordance
with the Minsk agreements,” said the Donetsk rebels’ self-styled
defence minister Vladimir Kononov.
“If the Ukrainians continue to shoot…you just heard
incoming fire…then I think it will lead to an end of the
ceasefire,” he said among the loud explosions.
In Kyiv, a military spokesman said rebels had shelled
Ukrainian positions 22 times over the past day.
“An intensification of the enemy’s military operations was
observed on the evening of March 2. They shot at Pisky with
mortar bombs and with an anti-aircraft system at Avdiyivka,”
said Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh, naming two
towns that have suffered heavy damage in the conflict.
The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany
and Italy discussed Ukraine at a video conference on Monday.
France said a strong response would be necessary if the
ceasefire agreement fails. Germany said sanctions imposed on
Russia would not be lifted unless it succeeds.
Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of arming the
separatists and reinforcing their ranks with Russian troops.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement and blames the United
States for pushing the pro-Western government in Kyiv to war.
Some in Kyiv have voiced worries that the rebels are using
the ceasefire to prepare for more attacks around the
strategically important Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol in
southern Donetsk province.
“The enemy is continuing to regroup and there is a
significant accumulation of forces in the south,” said Interior
Ministry adviser Zoryan Shkiryak.
Rebels deny planning an attack on Mariupol, saying they want
to take control of the port through negotiations.
SLOW TO TAKE HOLD
The ceasefire deal reached in the Belarus capital Mink was
slow to take hold, with the rebels storming a strategic
transport hub in Debaltseve on the fourth day of the truce
before the fighting subsided.
Since late last week, journalists have seen guns being sent
away from the front line on both sides. But the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe tasked with monitoring the
pullout says it cannot fully confirm it as it has not been given
access to locations where some guns have been moved.
The West has pinned hopes on the Minsk agreement, and NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in
Brussels that while “incidents” remained, the overall picture
showed that the ceasefire was holding.
“It is important that all sides respect their commitments
and that the separatists backed by Russia do not use this pause
in the fighting to prepare for a new offensive,” he said.
Poroshenko in a meeting with security chiefs said Kyiv must
cooperate more with OSCE monitors, who should be deployed around
areas where the ceasefire has been repeatedly violated.
Ukraine’s parliament is expected this week to approve a
request from Poroshenko for international peacekeepers to
monitor the conflict, an idea that has received a lukewarm
reception in European capitals and is scorned by Moscow.
(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets and Thomas Grove in
Kyiv and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Thomas Grove;
Editing by Peter Graff)