Ukraine says it repelled rebels’ airport attacks, killing 12
Kyiv (dpa) – Twelve separatist rebels were killed trying to capture
the airport in their stronghold of Donetsk, the Interfax Ukraine news
agency reported citing the National Security Council in Kyiv.
Ukrainian troops fought off the assaults on the biggest airport in
eastern Ukraine, council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. He added that
two government soldiers were killed in the fighting in the past 24
hours.
The airport is a strategic prize that has been the subject of
fighting for days, despite a ceasefire that took effect between the
pro-Russian rebels and the government on September 5.
The government has insisted it remains in control of the airport, but
the rebels said Friday that they had seized most parts of the
facility and government forces only held underground areas of the
building.
In Mariupol, a port city 115 kilometres south of Donetsk, Ukraine,
Russia and international monitors began work on determining the
borders of a 30-kilometre buffer zone on the front line.
“The route of the mission is not being released for security
reasons,” city spokesman Dmitri Gorbunov said.
The mission involving the two countries and the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was agreed on in September
along with the ceasefire.
The warring parties are to withdraw heavy weapons and high-calibre
artillery out of the buffer zone, according to the agreement.
The OSCE is to monitor compliance with the help of drones.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko proposed that English
be the first foreign language taught in Ukrainian schools instead of
Russian, taking a stance on an issue that is continuously argued in
the former Soviet republic, which has a large Russian minority.
“The more Ukrainians speak English, the better it is for the
country,” he said in the western city of Lviv.
Ukrainian has been the sole official language in Ukraine since its
independence in 1991, but since August 2012, Russian, Romanian and
Hungarian may be recognized as regional languages. Russian
politicians, however, have repeatedly demanded that Russian also be
declared an official language.