A truce between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine is to come into force today, Moscow and Kiev said, though some separatists were already labeling it unfeasible.
Saturday’s announcement comes after nearly 30 people lost their lives as violence flared again earlier this month in a conflict that has left more than 10,000 people dead since April 2014.
In another sign that tensions are far from easing up, Moscow on Saturday signed a decree recognizing passports issued by rebel authorities in Ukraine’s separatist regions, triggering a protest from Kiev which called it a “provocation.”
The new ceasefire deal was announced after the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany, with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov calling it a “positive” development.
However, the warring sides had already agreed on Wednesday last week that they would withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline by today in line with a tattered peace plan, and Lavrov warned that there had been no “major progress” in Munich.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin confirmed the deal, warning that the ceasefire must turn into more than a “political slogan” in practical terms.
“This has to be the real situation — and if that’s not the case, we will have to have fresh negotiations,” he told Ukrainian reporters in Munich.
Pro-Russian separatists on the ground declined to confirm they were planning to respect the new ceasefire, with some saying it was unfeasible for it to come into force as early as today.
“There has been artillery fire all day,” said Eduard Basurin, a senior official in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic. “What truce are they talking about? I don’t see the point in declaring a truce.”
He added that “for the moment on the Ukrainian side, we see no withdrawal” of heavy weapons as detailed under the latest plan.
Several ceasefires have already faltered in a bid to end Europe’s only armed conflict, attributed to regular flare-ups in fighting between the pro-Russian rebels — whom Moscow has furiously denied giving financial and military support, despite Western allegations — and Ukrainian troops.
The most recent violence earlier this month saw about 30 soldiers and civilians killed in the flashpoint town of Avdiivka, Ukraine.
“Sometimes we must admit that there is a lack of willingness on the ground,” French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Saturday.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised Kiev’s ire again by signing a decree recognizing passports issued by the self-declared Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons who live there” will now be able “to enter Russia and exit Russia without a visa,” the decree said.
Moscow described the move as “temporary” until a “political solution” is found to bring peace to the region.
However, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko blasted the decree as “fresh proof of the Russian occupation and violations by Russia of international law,” adding it was “highly symbolic” that it was published while he was meeting in Munich with US Vice-President Mike Pence, who informed him of the move.
“It’s a deliberate provocation by Putin,” Ukrainian minister Ganna Gopko said.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS