Ukraine Accuses Russia of Sending Troops as Truce Wobbles
Ukraine accused Russia of sending
troops into rebel-held areas of the country as fighting in the
east shook a fragile two-month-old truce.
Russia is redeploying forces from its southern Rostov
region and amassing troops in the separatist areas of Donetsk
and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian military spokesman
Andriy Lysenko said today. Russian military drones also
continued surveillance over rebel areas.
“About 60 units of military vehicles were redeployed to
the border from Rostov-on-Don in the past 24 hours.” Lysenko
told reporters in Kyiv. “Trains with military vehicles” were
also seen in the Luhansk region, he said.
The standoff is coming to a head after Ukraine and its
allies accused separatists of undermining peace efforts with
Nov. 2 elections in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian President
Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Ukraine’s “civil war” isn’t
subsiding as cities continue to come under shelling and the
civilian death toll is rising.
The European Union today added to warnings from the U.S.
and Germany that Russia risks more sanctions over the conflict.
EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Warsaw that
pressure on Russia has to be kept up and the 28-member bloc’s
foreign ministers will “discuss what next step we need to take
also in terms of sanctions,” when they meet on Nov. 17.
Increasing Pressure
A move by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to revoke
the special status of the breakaway areas will scuttle a truce
negotiated in Minsk, the rebel regions said yesterday in a joint
statement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the EU to
consider more sanctions, while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned “pressure will increase” if the Sept. 5 agreement
isn’t implemented.
“The conflict is incomplete and Russia is set to continue
it,” said Oleksiy Melnyk, an analyst at the Razumkov Center for
Economic and Political Studies in Kyiv. Separatist leaders “are
going to continue military action to expand the conflict zone,
and the Ukrainian side has to keep that in mind.”
Nine Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the past 24 hours,
and rebel forces continue to shell Donetsk airport, Lysenko
said. Shelling can be heard across Donetsk, the city council
said on its website.
While both sides have said they’re committed to honoring
the cease-fire and back peace efforts, Ukraine’s Foreign
Ministry said more than 100 servicemen have been killed and 600
wounded in the east since the truce was signed.
Invasion Risk
Poroshenko said this week that Ukraine has set up new
military units to protect the eastern cities of Kharkiv,
Dnipropetrovsk and Mariupol.
The risk of an invasion is growing, particularly near the
Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, and Russia has sent agents and
instructors to separatist areas, Markiyan Lubkivsky, an adviser
to Ukrainian Security Service head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, told
RBK-Ukraine news service.
The rebel-held ballots last weekend have deepened a rift
between Russia and governments from Washington to Berlin. While
Russia says the elections can pave the way to new talks, Kerry
countered that they amounted to a “blatant violation” of the
law. Merkel said the EU should consider expanding the list of
Russian-linked individuals under sanctions to punish those
responsible for the votes.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Merkel called on
all parties to “return to the Minsk plan and achieve a true
cease-fire as quickly as possible.”
No Easing
There’s “no possibility” of easing or lifting current
sanctions, she said. The penalties can be “rolled back” if the
Minsk agreement is implemented, according to Kerry.
“Based on these illegitimate elections, we should look
again at the list of particular individuals who bear
responsibility in eastern Ukraine,” Merkel said. “Beyond that,
I think we should simply stick with what we have so far in terms
of sanctions. We would certainly like to talk about possibly
lifting them, but I don’t see such a situation.”
The EU imposed sanctions on Russian individuals, businesses
and industries after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in March.
Representatives of 15 German companies held meetings with
Russian First Deputy Premier Igor Shuvalov and Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov yesterday to talk about their operations in Russia
amid sanctions, the Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper reported,
citing unidentified officials.
The ruble weakened 1.8 percent against the dollar as of 3
p.m. in Moscow, slipping to a record a day after the central
bank shifted its intervention policy to help stem the currency’s
plunge.
‘Principal Importance’
Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak, blamed
Ukraine for fueling the conflict, saying further sanctions won’t
influence Russia. Poroshenko has failed to implement the
special-status measure for eastern Ukraine, one of many
instances in which Russia considers Ukrainian authorities
haven’t upheld the deal, he said in Washington.
“Sanctions certainly do not help Russia, but we’re not
going to change things that are of principal importance to us,”
Kislyak told a group of reporters yesterday.
Poroshenko said he’ll ask parliament to annul a law
granting more autonomy to the eastern regions that was at the
center of the cease-fire negotiated by Ukraine, the rebels,
Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. Parliament may hold its first session since Oct. 26
elections on Dec. 1, Volodymyr Hroisman, of the Poroshenko Bloc
party, said today in Kyiv, Interfax reported.
Cutting Funds
Ukraine says the truce has been broken almost every day
since it was signed. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said
yesterday that government funding to the rebel-held regions will
be cut off.
The Minsk agreement has to be revised, the separatists said
in yesterday’s statement.
“The law on the special status and the law on amnesty
agreed with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk
People’s Republic were an obligation for Kyiv,” they said.
Canceling the laws will “in fact cancel the Minsk Protocol.”
To contact the reporters on this story:
Kateryna Choursina in Kyiv at
kchoursina@bloomberg.net;
Patrick Donahue in Berlin at
pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;
Gregory Viscusi in Paris at
gviscusi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
jagomez@bloomberg.net
Tony Halpin, Andrew Langley