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Ukraine Plans to Open Corridors for Civilians to Flee Violence in East Progress Reported on Cease-Fire Talks on Ukraine
(about 3 hours later)
MOSCOW — President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine ordered the creation of escape corridors on Tuesday for civilians who want to flee the violence-torn eastern part of the country, where pro-Russian separatists have been battling the Ukrainian military and other security forces for more than two months. DONETSK, Ukraine — The foreign ministers of Russia, Poland and Germany on Tuesday signalled progress toward a cease-fire in Ukraine, even as many as 40 separatists were reportedly killed in a fierce battle for control of an airport in the east of the country.
The separatist insurgency in the east, and the Ukrainian government’s “counterterrorism operation” intended to quash the uprising, have effectively plunged the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, along the border with Russia, into a civil war, with civilian casualties and damage to private homes and businesses increasing in recent weeks. The talks aimed at a diplomatic resolution to the unrest have achieved some progress in recent days, the ministers said, but no firm agreement. Past efforts to broker a truce, including one by European and American officials, failed because separatists insisted that Russia does not speak for them at the talks.
Mr. Poroshenko’s instructions to create a corridor for people displaced from the east came after he met with the leaders of the S.B.U., the state security service; the Defense Ministry; the Ministry of Internal Affairs; and the State Service of Emergency Situations. Exactly who does speak for them is unclear. On Tuesday, the militant wing of a rebel group in the city of Slovyansk, an epicenter of the violence, said it had arrested the city’s “people’s mayor,” Vyacheslav Ponomarev, who had been the public face of the pro-Russian uprising there, a Russian television channel, LifeNews, reported.
“To prevent new victims in the area of the counterterrorism operation, the president of Ukraine instructed the heads of law enforcement agencies to create all necessary conditions for the civilian population that wants to leave,” the presidential administration said in a statement on Tuesday. Authority had already been shifting to a Russian national, a militant who goes by the nickname Strelok, or the shooter. It was unclear whether the shift was related to the cease-fire talks.
The administration said Mr. Poroshenko had ordered not only transportation assistance but also expanded health care services, as well as supplies of food, water and medicine. Speaking after the negotiations in St. Petersburg, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey S. Lavrov, said he was confident that after the latest round of talks, any decision by the Ukrainian government to halt its military activities in the east would be met with a similar cease-fire by rebels. Mr. Lavrov also welcomed a proposal by Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave conflict areas.
Mr. Poroshenko, who was sworn in as president on Saturday, used his inauguration speech in part to offer safe passage to Russian fighters wishing to return home, and amnesty for rebels who put down their weapons, but he has said he will not negotiate with armed insurgents. “The key to a de-escalation of the situation, of course, in our belief is the cessation of this military operation against the protesters,” Mr. Lavrov said. “Namely then, the people that you call separatists, I am sure will answer reciprocally.”
In the days before his inauguration, the government stepped up efforts to end the uprising, including some efforts to eliminate rebels from populated areas like the city of Slovyansk, where a number of homes have been damaged by mortar fire. The Russian government has claimed to have no formal role in the insurrection, and no control over the fighters. Yet a number of senior rebel leaders have openly identified themselves as Russian citizens, and at least 31 rebels killed in fighting with the Ukrainian forces recently were found to be Russian nationals.
Three-way talks aimed at a diplomatic resolution — held by Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe — have achieved some progress in recent days, officials have said, but there has been no firm agreement. Past efforts to broker a truce, involving European and American officials, have failed. Mr. Lavrov met with the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, and the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The Russian government claims to have no formal role in the separatist insurrection, and no control over the fighters, though a number of senior rebel leaders have openly identified themselves as Russian citizens, and many rebels killed in fighting with the Ukrainian forces were found to be Russian citizens carrying Russian passports. Mr. Sikorski said he reassured Russia over its concern that Ukraine, once consolidated under a pro-Western government, intends to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Sikorski said Ukraine’s accession to NATO was not on the agenda today, though he offered no other guarantees.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, after meeting on Tuesday with his counterparts from Poland and Germany, said he was confident that a decision by Mr. Poroshenko’s government to halt the counterterrorism operation would be met with a similar cease-fire by rebels. Mr. Steinmeir said the talks had achieved “momentum,” and that “after many months of conflict in Ukraine we can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel,” German news media reported, citing the Foreign Ministry.
Mr. Lavrov met with the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, and the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Despite the peace overtures, fighting continued in eastern Ukraine. Overnight Tuesday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said its forces had rebuffed a separatist attack on an airport outside Kramatorsk, to the south of Slovyansk, and killed an estimated 40 separatist fighters. The report could not be confirmed. Phone calls to a rebel spokeswoman in the area went unanswered.
“The key to a de-escalation of the situation, of course in our belief, is the cessation of this military operation against the protesters,” Mr. Lavrov said. “Then, the people that you call separatists, I am sure will answer reciprocally.” In separate incidents, the Ukrainian military said two soldiers were wounded by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in fighting near Slovyansk, and that rebels in eight trucks mounted with machine guns had attacked an airport near the city of Luhansk, but failed to seize it.
Mr. Lavrov added, “When military aviation attacks the center of a city, as it was in Luhansk, when artillery is used for shooting at residential neighborhoods, armored personnel carriers, tanks, then most likely you cannot condemn people for wanting to defend those cities, those villages, in which they and their children live.” It was unclear how long the Ukrainian military and other agencies would need to set up the escape corridor for civilians that Mr. Poroshenko announced Tuesday. There were also questions about whether the separatists, whose rationale for fighting is that they are protecting residents from a “fascist” government in Kiev, would cooperate in a humanitarian effort by the government.
Mr. Poroshenko’s instructions to create a corridor for people displaced from the east came after he met Tuesday with the leaders of the country’s security and military services.
“To prevent new victims in the area of the counter-terrorism operation, the president of Ukraine instructed the heads of law enforcement agencies to create all necessary conditions for the civilian population that wants to leave,” the presidential administration said in a statement after the meeting.
Mr. Poroshenko, who was sworn in as president on Saturday, used his inauguration speech in part to offer safe passage to Russian fighters wishing to return home and amnesty for rebels who put down their weapons. But he has said he will not negotiate with armed insurgents.