Ukraine Chases Rebels From Strongholds as Showdown Looms
Ukraine’s army turned the tide
against pro-Russian insurgents with its biggest victories of a
three-month campaign, sending the rebels fleeing to the eastern
strongholds where they have vowed to make a stand.
After recapturing Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, government
forces secured control of the Donetsk region towns of Artemivsk
and Druzhkivka, military officials told President Petro Poroshenko yesterday. The insurgents are bolstering defenses in
Donetsk in preparation for an onslaught, Denis Pushilin, leader
of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, said on Twitter.
“There are a lot of tests ahead,” Poroshenko said. The
government plans a “complete blockade” of Donetsk and the
region’s other main city, Luhansk, that will force rebels to lay
down arms, Inter TV cited Mikhailo Koval, deputy head of the
National Defense and Security Council, as saying.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has sparked Russia’s
tensest showdown with the U.S. and its European allies since the
fall of the Berlin Wall a quarter-century ago.
As the insurgents lost ground, Russia urged a renewal of
peace talks. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his German and
French counterparts on July 5 that a durable cease-fire is
needed in the wake of the “sharp deterioration of the
situation” and the rising toll on civilians and infrastructure.
Poroshenko has promised to continue the offensive.
Fighters Escaped
The rebels had to leave positions in Slovyansk “to save
45,000 civilians still located there,” as well as because of
the superiority of government forces, Andrei Purgin, deputy
premier of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said by telephone. He
said the militants may take part in peace talks with Ukraine’s
authorities if Russia and the European Union initiate
consultations and act as mediators.
During the July 5 retreat, the rebels managed to get as
much as 90 percent of their fighters and weapons out of
Slovyansk, rebel commander Igor Girkin, who identifies himself
as Igor Strelkov, said in a video interview with the LifeNews.ru
website from Donetsk, a city of about 1 million. Strelkov works
for Russian military intelligence, according to the EU, which
sanctioned him in April.
“We will continue military actions, and not repeat the
mistakes that we made earlier,” he said. “Donetsk is actually
relatively strong and much easier to defend than little
Slovyansk.”
Taking Control
The rebels have retreated across large swaths of territory
in the mainly Russian-speaking border regions. Ukrainian
government authorities said July 4 that they controlled almost
two-thirds of the country’s eastern districts.
With the blue-and-yellow national flag raised in the
separatist strongholds, Ukraine vowed to restore infrastructure
and ensure supplies of food and water for the population.
Rebels continue to surrender as government attacks on rebel
bases, checkpoints and ammunition dumps inflict significant
losses and stoke infighting among the insurgents, Andriy
Lysenko, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Kyiv, said
yesterday, according to Interfax.
While warplanes two days ago bombed insurgent tanks and
artillery, aviation won’t be used to strike rebels in Donetsk
and Luhansk to avoid civilian casualties in the provincial
capitals, where Ukraine plans to dispatch special forces,
according to Lysenko.
‘No Fireworks’
Poroshenko sent troops to dislodge the separatists after
ending a cease-fire on July 1. The president had predicted a new
round of international peace talks as early as July 5, though
none has yet been scheduled.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is sending weapons across
the frontier and allowing militants to attack border checkpoints
from its territory. Russia rejects the “tired and
unsubstantiated” accusations that it’s arming insurgents,
according to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
The Ukrainian president said a cease-fire is only possible
after he gets confirmation it will be honored by separatists.
Poroshenko has blamed the insurgents for breaking the 10-day
truce more than 100 times.
“This is not the final victory, and no time for
fireworks,” Poroshenko said. “This is the beginning of a
crucial moment in the combat against insurgents.”
To contact the reporters on this story:
Daria Marchak in Kyiv at
dmarchak@bloomberg.net;
Volodymyr Verbyany in Kyiv at
vverbyany1@bloomberg.net;
Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at
skravchenko@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net;
James M. Gomez at
jagomez@bloomberg.net
Paul Abelsky, Ben Holland