Ukraine's new leader vows quick end to revolt
Ukraine's newly elected president vowed on Wednesday to quickly end an eastern revolt after a fierce army push to reclaim a major airport saw more than 40 pro-Russian rebels killed.
The deserted streets of the million-strong rust belt city of Donetsk echoed with bursts of morning gunfire after a devastating two-day firefight in which Ukrainian fighter bombers flushed out more than 100 gunmen who had seized the region's most important air hub.
Ukrainian officials said they were now in control of the airport and working hard to secure the release of four European civilian observers abducted at a rebel roadblock outside the city on Monday.
But president-elect Petro Poroshenko and his pro-Western cabinet were bracing for a fresh crisis on Wednesday with the looming threat of Russia's vital gas flows being halted at the start of next week.
European leaders called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to help his smaller neighbour by using his leverage with the rebels to end a revolt that has claimed around 200 lives since they grabbed effective control of a dozen towns and cities in early April.
But Moscow has thus far failed to reach out to Poroshenko -- a 48-year-old billionaire candymaker elected by a resounding margin on Sunday -- and cautioned Ukraine that its stepped-up military offensive could only backfire.
Poroshenko told Germany's Bild daily ahead of a Wednesday visit to Berlin by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk that Ukraine had simply run out of options and could no longer put up with the violence threatening its very existence as a sovereign state.
"We will no longer let these terrorists kidnap people and kill them," said Poroshenko.
"We will end this terror. A real war is being waged against our country."
Large armored build-up of Ukraine army west of Donetsk counted at least 50-60 BMPs & ZSUs, May 28th 2014
Military trucks moving east along Dnipropetrovsk-Donetsk rail line.Ukraine May 28th 2014
Some analysts think Kiev has ratcheted up its campaign believing that the 40-point margin of Poroshenko's victory will make it hard for Moscow to question his legitimacy and order its troops to "protect" the east's ethnic Russians.
The Kremlin reaffirmed on Wednesday that it "respected" the will of Ukraine's voters but also denounced the army's "provocative" actions as another step toward strife and discontent.
"The people (of Ukraine) are being pushed to the brink of a fratricidal war," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned.
- Donetsk deserted -
The regional capital of Ukraine's coal and steel district stood deserted on Wednesday with sporadic reports of gunfire after a devastating battle for control of the region's main air hub.
The gleaming Sergei Prokofiev International Airport -- rebuilt at a cost of $900 million (660 million euros) for the Euro 2012 football championship -- stood with its vast glass facade shattered after the army used fighter bombers and helicopters to capture the building on Tuesday.
The separatists stormed the Sergei Prokofiev Donetsk airport early on Monday, sparking a swift air and land assault by the Ukrainian military.
Dazed officials said 14 schools and two hospitals had been closed near the airport. Roads leading to it and the city's main railway station were sealed off by both rebels and government troops.
Shops and restaurants -- even the local McDonald's -- remained locked up and their windows boarded.
The Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it still had received no news from a four-member team that went missing outside Donetsk on Monday.
"They are being held by one of the pro-Russian groups and we are now working on their release," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyinis told reporters.
The OSCE said it had also learned that two Ukrainian journalists accused of "spying" had been taken hostage in the neighbouring eastern district of Lugansk.
But Poland said that a Catholic priest nabbed by the militiamen on Tuesday had been released.
- Gas threat -
Ukrainian premier Yatsenyuk flew to Berlin for urgent energy security talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that come less than a week before Europe faces another possible reduction in Russian gas supplies.
Russia and Ukraine launched their third gas war in less than a decade after the ouster of a Kremlin-backed president in February prompted Moscow to nearly double Kiev's gas price.
Ukraine refused to pay in protest and has since balked at the terms of an interim deal negotiated with the help of a top EU energy official that would have seen Russia receive a down payment on its debt by Thursday.
Putin pointed out on Wednesday that Russia had not received any payments since November but was still willing to negotiate a lower price for Ukraine -- if it was paid on time.
"This cannot continue forever," Putin told a government meeting. "Everyone understands that perfectly well."
About 15 percent of all gas consumed in Europe is pumped in from Russia through Ukraine.
Past disruptions in 2006 and 2009 had already damaged Russia's reputation as a reliable supplier and analysts said both sides had big incentives to find a compromise.
"A gas deal (or not) will provide the clearest signal of the hoped for pragmatic relationship between Russia and Ukraine," said economist Chris Weafer of the Macro-Advisory consultancy in Moscow.
No comments:
Post a Comment