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Ukraine government declares ceasefire Ukraine government declares start of unilateral ceasefire
(35 minutes later)
Ukraine's interior ministry says government troops will start a unilateral, seven-day ceasefire later on Friday as a first step in efforts to de-escalate the conflict with pro-Russia separatists in the east. The Ukrainian government said a promised unilateral ceasefire in the east of the country would begin on Friday evening and last a week, the first part of President Petro Poroshenko's plan to win back control over the east, where armed separatists have set up breakaway republics.
The ministry on its website cited statements by President Petro Poroshenko, saying: "The forces of the anti-terrorist operation will halt military action starting today and through 27 June." Poroshenko travelled to the east on Friday and visited a Ukrainian national guard camp. Wearing military fatigues, he handed out awards to some of the troops, and announced details of the ceasefire plan. "Combat action will only be of retaliatory character if rebels attack our forces," he said.
Poroshenko has said a short ceasefire is to be the first step in his plan to ease the conflict. He said it will give separatists time to lay down their arms and leave the country, to be followed by talks, new local elections and a jobs programme. The plan does not envisage negotiations with the leaderships of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, but it does promise amnesty to all rebels who disarm and are not guilty of major crimes.
Seven Ukrainian troops were killed in overnight fighting, an official said on Friday. Vladislav Seleznev, spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, said in addition to the deaths, 30 troops were injured in fighting near the village of Yampil in the Donetsk region. It offers decentralisation of power, though it stops short of full federalisation, and gives guarantees over the status of the Russian language, as well as calling for early parliamentary elections. It also calls for a "buffer zone" on the Russia-Ukraine border to prevent the infiltration of Russian weapons and fighters.
He said 300 rebels were killed, but that could not be immediately verified. Previous government reports of high casualties among the rebels have often later turned out to be overstated. Poroshenko's plan is meant to give time for separatists to lay down their arms, and give those who have crossed from Russia safe passage back over the border. But many are locals and in recent days both commanders and rank-and-file fighters have told the Guardian they have no plans to surrender, raising the prospect of an intensified military campaign once the week is over.
Separatists who want to split from the government in Kiev were operating tanks in the region, a particular sore point for Ukraine, which accuses Russia of letting the vehicles and other heavy weaponry cross the border. In recent days there have been reports that a large number of Russian troops had moved back to the border area, having been withdrawn several weeks ago.
Vladimir Putin has voiced concern about the Ukrainian military operation against the rebels but has resisted both the rebels' pleas to join Russia and repeated calls from Russian nationalists for Putin to send troops into Ukraine. Nato reported on Thursday, however, that Russia was resuming a military buildup at the Ukrainian border. "This is not a matter of some sort of concentration of forces, but of the strengthening of border controls of the Russian Federation," Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia's investigative committee, also said on Friday evening that clashes had taken place on the border between Russia and Ukraine that resulted in shots being fired inside Russian territory, and that investigators were being dispatched to the scene.
Putin has so far refrained from sending the army into eastern Ukraine in the same way that happened in Crimea prior to the peninsula's annexation this year, but has repeatedly called on Kiev to stop the military operation in the east. Poroshenko and Putin have spoken by phone twice recently, including once to discuss the peace plan earlier this week, suggesting that some kind of agreement may have been reached between the pair.
How much force any deal would have on the ground, however, is another matter, as many of the myriad groups of fighters do not appear to be under any real chain of command.
Heavy fighting has continued in recent days. Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for Kiev government's "anti-terrorist operation", said that seven soldiers were killed and 30 injured in clashes around the village of Yampil. He claimed that 300 rebel fighters had been killed, figures which were impossible to verify. There have also been civilian casualties in towns where the fighting has been most intense, notably Slavyansk, one of the centres of rebel activity and under siege from the Ukrainian army.