Debris of missiles, shells and rockets fired by Ukrainian forces on the frontline city of Pervomaisk are displayed at the foot of a statue of former Soviet Communist leader and revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, alias Lenin.
Reuters
Kiev/Donetsk
Three Ukrainian servicemen were killed and nine wounded as pro-Russian rebels shelled government positions despite a ceasefire deal, the military said yesterday, announcing Kiev’s highest casualty toll in several days.
The losses underscore the fragility of a two-week-old ceasefire agreement which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called the last chance for peace between Kiev and the separatists he says are being armed by Russia.
After the separatists initially ignored the ceasefire to launch one of the biggest offensives of the war, fighting finally slowed down dramatically last week. In recent days both sides have been withdrawing artillery from the front line, the next stage in a peace agreement brokered by France and Germany.
Both sides still accuse each other on a daily basis of breaking the truce, however, and yesterday’s shelling appeared more intense than in previous days.
In rebel-held Donetsk, among the ruins of the city’s airport, artillery fire was heard coming towards rebel positions from the direction of Ukraine’s frontline stronghold of Pisky.
“We have no mortar rockets anywhere here. We have already withdrawn everything bigger than 100mm in accordance with the Minsk agreements,” said the Donetsk rebels’ self-styled defence minister Vladimir Kononov.
“If the Ukrainians continue to shoot ... you just heard incoming fire ... then I think it will lead to an end of the ceasefire,” he said among the loud explosions.
In Kiev, a military spokesman said rebels had shelled Ukrainian positions 22 times over the past day.
“An intensification of the enemy’s military operations was observed on the evening of March 2. They shot at Pisky with mortar bombs and with an anti-aircraft system at Avdiyivka,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh, naming two towns that have suffered heavy damage in the conflict.
Ties between Russia and the West have plummeted to Cold War-era lows over the violence, and Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of arming the separatists and reinforcing their ranks with Russian troops.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement.
Some in Kiev have voiced worries that the rebels are using the ceasefire to prepare for more attacks around the strategically important Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol in southern Donetsk province.
Rebels deny planning an attack on Mariupol, saying that they want to take control of the port through negotiations.
Continued violence, including the rebels’ storming of a strategic transport hub in Debaltseve on the fourth day after the ceasefire had been due to take effect, slowed implementation of the peace deal reached in the Belarus capital Minsk.
The agreement outlines the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy artillery, and calls for progress to be monitored by the OSCE European rights and security watchdog.
