Ukraine shook up its beleaguered army’s top brass as clashes raged in the separatist east despite mounting US and German pressure on Russia to force the rebels to cease fire.
Western-backed new Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday named a new defense minister and top general, as his forces reported pressing on with an offensive to oust pro-Russian insurgents from the country’s industrial east.
New Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Geletey immediately pledged to deliver a knockout blow to the rebels after Poroshenko this week ditched a 10-day truce.
“I am sure that Ukraine will win and believe me that there will be a victory parade,” the 46-year-old former police commander told legislators.
Ukrainian troops backed by tanks and bombers have stepped up their campaign since a shaky ceasefire failed to stem 11 weeks of violence that have claimed more than 460 lives. However, the poorly trained and ill-equipped force is being heavily tested by highly organized militias both Kiev and the West accuse the Kremlin of arming and funding — a charge Russian President Vladimir Putin denies.
The border service said that nine guards were wounded on Thursday when shells hit a key crossing with Russia that Kiev had celebrated retaking just days earlier.
Gunmen dressed in camouflage also reportedly shot dead three Ukrainian policemen and wounded another in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
Regional authorities said at least one resident of the flashpoint city of Kramatorsk was killed in unceasing rebels raids that forced workers to ask the local heavy equipment manufacturer to suspend its operations.
The latest battles came despite a flurry of diplomacy aimed at persuading the warring sides to agree to a fresh round of indirect talks to hammer out a new ceasefire.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Putin by phone to help organize another meeting of the so-called Contact Group by the weekend.
Merkel’s office said she and US President Barack Obama also spoke on the phone and urged the Russian leader of “the importance of a rapid ceasefire observed by both sides.”
“Russia must first contribute by ensuring that the separatists in eastern Ukraine uphold the ceasefire,” the German account of the call said.
The White House said Obama and Merkel agreed that if Russia did not de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine in “short order,” Washington and Europe would take further “coordinated” steps toward sanctions.
Putin has thus far refused to demand that the rebels halt fire. He also adamantly blames Poroshenko for the failure of the original truce.
Both Kiev and the rebel command refuse to negotiate directly. The West would now like to arrange “consultations” in which Kiev is represented by former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma.
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