Ukraine Presses Insurgents as Troops Recapture Territory
Ukrainian government troops pressed their offensive against pro-Russian insurgents to secure territorial gains after claiming to take control of almost two-thirds of districts in the country’s battle-torn east.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured 17 cities and villages since the military operation began, including four villages since a truce ended on July 1, and control 23 of the 36 districts in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, National Security Council chief Andriy Parubiy said yesterday in Kyiv.
The months-long conflict is coming to a head after President Petro Poroshenko sent troops to oust the rebels across the mainly Russian-speaking border regions. The Ukrainian leader said a new round of peace talks with Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe may be possible as early as today, according to a statement.
“They chose war, so we will respond to it appropriately,” Poroshenko said following a meeting yesterday with the new defense minister, Valeriy Geletey, and Stepan Poltorak, commander of the National Guard.
The hryvnia strengthened 0.7 percent against the dollar yesterday in Kyiv. The ruble weakened 0.5 percent to 34.44 per dollar by 6 p.m. in Moscow. Its 2 percent slide this week is the most on a closing basis among more than 100 global currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Trading Accusations
As government forces dislodge rebels from a swathe of territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russia is sending weapons across the frontier and allowing militants to attack border checkpoints from its territory, Ukrainian security officials said. Russia rejects the “tired and unsubstantiated” accusations that it’s arming insurgents, according to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
While Poroshenko said he’s ready to resume peace talks without any additional conditions, he stressed that a truce is only possible after he gets confirmation it will be honored by separatists, and once all hostages are released and observers from the OSCE are monitoring the border with Russia.
Poroshenko has blamed the insurgents for breaking the 10-day truce more than 100 times, while killing 27 soldiers and wounding 69.
About 20 military vehicles including tanks were allowed to enter Ukraine from the Russian side of the border during the past four days, Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, the chief of Ukraine’s state security service, told reporters in Kyiv yesterday. Rebels receive financing from Russian banks and enjoy the backing of Russia’s security and military intelligence agencies, he said.
Invasion Threat?
Russia continues to pose the threat of a direct invasion after amassing 40,000 soldiers on its borders with Ukraine and failing to pull them back, Parubiy said. Nine government soldiers died and 13 were wounded during fighting yesterday, the country’s military said.
Ukraine’s bigger neighbor is still seeking to stoke the tensions and plans a new wave of measures to destabilize eight regions in the southeast, according to Parubiy.
“There won’t be another unilateral cease-fire,” Poroshenko said yesterday.
Russia denounced the intensified campaign, with the Foreign Ministry pointing to the heavy civilian toll, power shortages and destroyed infrastructure as a result of the offensive. The reliance on the armed forces and preference for “ultimatums and ever new demands” by the authorities in Kyiv contradict an agreement reached by the top diplomats from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, it said.
Peace, Sanctions
The foreign ministers from the four countries agreed at a meeting in Berlin two days ago to work for a comprehensive cease-fire in another round of talks by today.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to step up diplomacy aimed at reinstating the cease-fire. In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 3, they raised pressure on him to push the militants to reach an agreement with Ukraine,
U.S. President Barack Obama and Merkel agreed the U.S. and Europe should take additional measures to “impose costs” on Russia if it doesn’t take steps to ease the crisis “in short order,” the White House said in a statement.
As Europe and the U.S. consider tightening sanctions, there’s little chance of an enduring truce, said Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe.
“The long game has started — the real game between the Russians who want to keep the conflict simmering and the West that wants to stabilize situation to win political and economic progress in Ukraine,” Techau said. “A cease-fire is unrealistic as long as Russia is not sealing and controlling its borders. But this would likely mean the separatists would lose.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Daria Marchak in Kyiv at dmarchak@bloomberg.net; Volodymyr Verbyany in Kyiv at vverbyany1@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