Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels fought fiercely across the east of the country yesterday, despite a new peace deal brokered by Germany and France.
A ceasefire is due to take effect tomorrow under the agreement, which also envisages a withdrawal of the heavy weapons responsible for many of the 5,000 casualties in the conflict that broke out almost a year ago.
Kiev said pro-Russian rebels had built up their forces across separatist-held zones since the deal, and both sides accused each other of killing civilians.
Photo: Reuters
Two people were killed and six wounded when a shell hit a cafe in the Kiev-controlled town of Shchastya near rebel-held Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, a local official said, adding that other shells had struck elsewhere in the town.
“The town’s heating system is broken, power lines are damaged as well as the water supply... So this is how a comprehensive ceasefire is prepared for,” Hennadiy Moskal, head of the Kiev-controlled administration, said online.
The rebels accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the separatist stronghold of Donetsk and the town of Horlivka, where they said on their Web site that three children had been killed.
The sound of artillery could be heard in the outskirts of Donetsk and clouds of black smoke hung over its suburbs.
Outgoing fire from the Ukrainian side was visible on the road between Kiev-controlled Kramatorsk and rebel-held Donetsk, and rebels at a checkpoint near Donetsk said they had been hit by mortar strikes. They mocked the impending truce.
“What sort of ceasefire? Don’t make me laugh. This is already the second or third ceasefire,” one said.
The deal, sealed by the leaders of Germany and France on Thursday, after 16 hours of all-night talks in Minsk, with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, was soon overshadowed by the clashes.
Eleven soldiers had been killed and 40 wounded in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.
Fighting was intense around Debaltseve, a railway junction linking the two main rebel areas, where separatists used rockets and artillery to attack government forces holding the town.
The US and Europe have threatened further sanctions against Moscow if the rebels seize more territory.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was not naive and wanted to make clear the country was a long way from peace.
“Nobody has a strong belief that the peace conditions which were signed in Minsk will be implemented strictly,” he said.
Western diplomats said the EU would go ahead on Monday with already planned sanctions against 19 Ukrainian separatists and Russians, despite the ceasefire.
NATO and the US said the fighting ran counter to the spirit, if not the letter of the agreement and US officials said further sanctions were still on the table.
At an EU summit in Brussels, the leaders of Germany, France and the European Council also said new sanctions were possible.
A Kremlin spokesman yesterday said the four leaders remained in touch over the Ukraine crisis, and that he expected them to talk by phone tonight.
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