Ukraine peace talks fail as violence flares in east
January 16, 2015
On Friday, representatives from Kyiv and Russia, as well as separatist envoys and officials of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), had been set to meet in Minsk, Belarus, to go over the details of a ceasefire to be monitored by the OSCE.
Rebel envoy Denis Pushilin, speaking from Minsk, blamed Ukrainians for the security situation on the ground and said the Kyiv government should have dispatched envoys capable of proposing viable solutions.
The escalation in fighting has centered on the Donetsk airport (pictured above), where rebel militia have redoubled efforts to oust government troops. Separatists fighters claim almost total control of the airport, but Ukrainian troops say they still hold parts of the building.
Residential areas in Donetsk remain caught in artillery crossfire. Separatist authorities in Donetsk said four people had died in a fire on Thursday after a warehouse was hit by a shell.
No end in sight
The United Nations estimates that more than 4,700 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since April, and fighting has continued despite September's Minsk ceasefire deal that included a provision to pull back heavy weapons.
A clear demarcation, also agreed in the previous deal signed in Minsk, has been routinely disregarded. The US embassy in Ukraine on Friday accused the rebels of unilaterally violating the boundary.
"The separatists have pushed their lines well beyond the territorial lines agreed upon," Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt told the Associated Press via electronic mail.
A fresh truce was announced in December, only to unravel last week and derail a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany in Kazakhstan earlier this week.
Tanks 'headed west'
Ukraine says separatist forces are accumulating along the front line.
Military spokesman Andrey Lysenko said rebels have mobilized large numbers of armored vehicles in the past few days, with a particular concentration noted in Horlivka, a city east of Donetsk.
"In Horlivka, there is a three-kilometer-long column of tanks heading in the direction of Ukrainian positions," he said.
glb/ng (AFP, Reuters, dpa)