Ukraine president ends cease-fire, vows attack on rebels
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says his forces will soon go on the offensive against pro-Russian separatists, ending a unilateral cease-fire in the conflict.
A statement from Poroshenko on his website says the cease-fire is being halted and that “we will attack, and we will free our country.”
The fragile cease-fire expired Monday night. The idea was to give rebels a chance to disarm and to start a broader peace process, including an amnesty and new elections.
But rebels did not disarm or comply with Poroshenko’s latest push to get them to turn over key border crossings with Russia and permit international monitoring of the cease-fire.
“The unique chance to put the peace plan into practice was not realized,” Poroshenko said in a speech prepared for delivery to the nation. “This happened because of the criminal actions of the fighters.”
Poroshenko had already extended the cease-fire from seven days as part of a plan to end the fighting that has killed more than 400 people since April.
His decision followed four-way talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande as the deadline approached. He issued a statement after the talks ended, saying the key conditions needed to continue the cease-fire had not been met.
Putin has called-up reserve units of his military, which Ukrainian generals believe means he’s planning to invade Ukraine, says Phill Karber, president of the Potomac Foundation, based on meetings Monday with Ukrainian military commanders.
The generals believe the 10-day ceasefire that ended Monday gave separatists who were “on the ropes” a chance to regroup, resupply with weapons and new fighters from Russia, and prevented Ukrainian forces from surrounding and cutting off the insurgents when they had the chance, Karber said.
Karber said the airport in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital hundreds of miles from fighting in the east, appeared ready for battle with sandbag defense positions and light armor for runway protection and rapid response.
Russia, meanwhile, protested the overnight shooting death of a Russian journalist, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it has scaled back its monitoring operations because of safety concerns.
Anatoly Klyan, a cameraman for state-owned Channel One, was shot in the stomach by Ukrainian forces on a bus carrying journalists and soldiers’ mothers, according to his employer, NEWS.GNOM.ES reported. Klyan later died of his wounds.
Klyan is the third Russian journalist killed since fighting broke out in April between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in east Ukraine. An Italian journalist and his interpreter were killed in May.
East Ukraine separatists on Friday and Saturday released eight international monitors taken hostage a month ago while observing fighting in the region.
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor for the rights and security watchdog group, said all were unharmed but that activities in contested areas of east Ukraine will be reduced until security improves.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday it had scaled back monitoring operations in eastern Ukraine and frozen further deployments after eight of its observers were held hostage for a month.
Contributing: Oren Dorell in Washington.
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