Ukraine Toll Rises as OSCE Reports Use of Cluster Munitions
(Bloomberg) — The OSCE called for a truce to evacuate
civilians from the crossroad town of Debaltseve and said two
people were killed in a strike with cluster bombs last week in
the rebel-held city of Luhansk.
“On humanitarian grounds” the group called on “all
actors in and around the Debaltseve area to establish a local
temporary truce for a minimum of three days, taking immediate
effect,” Ivica Dacic, the chairman of the Organization for
Security and Co-Operation in Europe, said in a statement on
Tuesday.
Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub on a road connecting
the rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, remained under
heavy fire from separatists, Ukrainian military spokesman Leonid
Matyukhin said Wednesday. Nearly 2,000 civilians were evacuated
from the area at the end of January, according to Ukrainian
military officials.
The “issue of evacuating civilians, including children,
needs to become one of the key priorities,” Iryna Herashchenko,
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s envoy to eastern Ukraine,
said in Kyiv on Tuesday, calling for a meeting with the Red
Cross and the United Nations.
About 200 people leave Debaltseve daily, with about a third
of the population remaining, Ilya Suzdalev, a spokesman for
Donetsk regional government, said in a phone interview on
Wednesday. Some citizens are refusing to leave their homes, he
said.
Cluster Bombs
In a separate report, OSCE said on Tuesday that two people
were also wounded in Jan. 27 strike using cluster bombs in
Luhansk.
As attempts to reestablish a truce failed last week, a
separatist leader ordered a draft to boost troop numbers by tens
of thousands. To bolster Ukraine’s ability to respond, eight
former U.S. officials urged President Barack Obama and NATO to
send $3 billion of military aid. Administration officials say
they are focused on a diplomatic solution but are examining all
options. Germany said the European Union may slap new sanctions
on Russia if the crisis worsens.
At least 5,358 people were killed and more than 12,235
people have been wounded in the conflict since mid-April,
including at least 224 civilians killed in the three weeks to
Feb. 1 alone, the United Nations said in an e-mailed statement
on Tuesday, citing a “conservative” estimate based on official
data.
IMF Talks
Ukraine “hopes” to conclude talks with the International
Monetary Fund within days on a three- to four-year aid program,
Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said in a conference call on
Tuesday. Ukraine is trying to extend a $17 billion IMF-led
bailout, and its “additional, incremental” needs are about $15
billion, she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine should repay
a $3 billion loan from Russia because his government needs the
funds to fight an economic crisis. While the bond matures in
December, Putin’s comments shouldn’t be taken as a demand for
early repayment, the president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
reporters Tuesday.
The separatists’ gains follow a substantial increase in the
presence of Russian military forces, who are operating alongside
the rebels in eastern Ukraine, a senior North Atlantic Treaty
Organization official told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday on
condition of anonymity.
Ample Evidence
While Ukraine and its NATO and EU allies say there’s ample
evidence that Russia is aiding the separatists, Putin’s
government denies military involvement. The Kremlin says Ukraine
is waging war against its own citizens and discriminating
against Russian speakers, who make up the majority of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Last week, EU foreign ministers gave a green light to
prepare steps to extend penalties against Russian people,
companies and industries, which are helping to push the country
toward recession.
Pro-Russian forces will start “voluntary” conscription to
increase the rebel army’s size to as many as 100,000 soldiers on
Feb. 9, Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-declared
Donetsk Republic, was cited as saying Monday by Interfax. Russia
regrets the failure of peace talks held in Minsk, Belarus on
Saturday and regards the decision by the rebels to take a tough
stance with Ukraine as justified, Interfax reported on Tuesday,
citing an unidentified Kremlin official.
A report, issued Monday jointly by the Atlantic Council,
the Brookings Institution and the Chicago Council on Global
Affairs, urges the U.S. to spend $1 billion annually for the
next three years on military aid to Ukraine that includes
reconnaissance drones, armored Humvees and radars to detect the
source of enemy artillery fire.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Daryna Krasnolutska in Kyiv at
dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;
Mark Raczkiewycz in Kyiv at
mraczkiewycz@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
jagomez@bloomberg.net;
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net
Andrea Dudik