Ukraine’s Western-backed leader yesterday accused Russia of trying to inflame the separatist southeast but promised to proceed with caution against pro-Kremlin militias consolidating their hold on the flashpoint region.
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov’s impassioned charges against Ukraine’s historical master came only hours after a “frank and direct” exchange on the crisis between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the heated telephone conversation appeared to break no new ground as the Kremlin chief continued to reject any links to the Russian-speaking gunmen who have occupied town halls and police stations in nearly 10 cities across Ukraine’s struggling rust belt since the start of the month.
Photo: Reuters
Displeasure at Ukrainian forces’ thus-far helpless efforts to reassert control saw several hundred nationalists set fire to tires outside the parliament building on Monday evening demanding the Ukrainian interior minister’s resignation.
Turchynov appeared to address that discontent yesterday by stressing that efforts to dislodge the pro-Russian gunmen from their increasingly entrenched positions must proceed “gradually, responsibly and in a measured way.”
The coordinated series of raids that began in the depressed industrial hubs of Donetsk and Lugansk and have since spread to nearby coal mining towns and villages have presented the untested leaders with a high-stakes challenge with no clear solution.
Inaction in the face the insurgents’ aggression and tough talk by Moscow could potentially see the vast nation of 46 million break up along its historic Russian-Ukrainian cultural divide.
However, a forceful military response — its very feasibility in question due to poor morale and desertions riddling army ranks — could prompt a counterstrike by about 40,000 Russian troops now poised along Ukraine’s border and waiting to act on Putin’s vow to “protect” his compatriots in the neighboring state.
Turchynov told an agitated session of parliament during which some of his old protest supporters questioned his leadership that Ukraine was facing an eastern enemy, rather than domestic discontent.
“They want to set fire not only to the Donetsk region, but to the entire south and east — from Kharkiv to the Odessa region,” the acting president said.
Turchynov also announced the formal launch of the Ukrainian army’s campaign in the northern parts of Donetsk — a push that started on Sunday with the involvement of internal forces but then quickly abandoned when a senior commander was killed.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Chief Andriy Parubiy added that he had dispatched the first unit of the newly formed National Guard — composed in part of volunteers and this winter’s more militant anti-government protesters — “to the front.”
However, the UN issued a report yesterday urging the leaders in Kiev to temper their response and “immediately take initial measures to build confidence between the government and the people.”
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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