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.
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
ICE DISPUTE: The Trump administration has sought to paint Good as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ insisting that the agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense Thousands of demonstrators chanting the name of the woman killed by a US federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took to the city’s streets on Saturday, amid widespread anger at use of force in the immigration crackdown of US President Donald Trump. Organizers said more than 1,000 events were planned across the US under the slogan “ICE, Out for Good” — referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is drawing growing opposition over its execution of Trump’s effort at mass deportations. The slogan is also a reference to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot dead on Wednesday in her
RSS