I/II. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/19/ukraine-separatists-truce_n_5510376.html?utm_hp_ref=ukraine
Ukraine's Separatists Refuse Truce Reuters Posted: 06/19/2014 4:50 am EDT Updated: 06/19/2014 3:59 pm EDT KIEV, June 19 (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists were locked in fierce fighting in the east of Ukraine on Thursday after rebels rejected a call to lay down their arms in line with a peace plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko, government forces said. Heavy fighting broke out at around 4 a.m. (0100 gm) near the town of Krasny Liman, which itself has been under government control since early this month. "We issued an ultimatum to the terrorists overnight to surrender their weapons. We guarantee their safety and investigation in line with Ukrainian law ... They refused," said government forces spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov. "Now we are trying to narrow the encirclement. They are trying to break out," Seleznyov said. No details of the fighting were immediately available from the rebels side. Poroshenko, installed as a president on June 7, is pushing a peace plan to end the separatist rebellion including an offer of a unilateral ceasefire by government forces and amnesty for the separatists as long as they put down their weapons. Poroshenko was due later on Thursday to meet regional officials from the Donetsk and Luhansk areas of eastern Ukraine to explain his plan - though he rules out meeting separatists. Separatist rebellions erupted in eastern Ukraine in early April after street protests in Kiev toppled the Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovich and Russia in turn annexed the Crimean peninsula. Eastern rebels have called for union with Russia. Kiev has accused Russia of fomenting the unrest in the east and of allowing volunteer fighters from Russia to cross into Ukraine to support the rebels. This is denied by Moscow. "TRUCE REFUSED" The violence has cost the lives of 147 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded 267 up to now, the defense ministry said on Wednesday. But many scores of separatist militia, civilians and members of other military bodies such as the national guard have also been killed and the overall death toll is much higher. Ukrainian forces, which lost 49 servicemen on June 14 when separatists brought down a military helicopter in Luhansk region, have been gradually tightening their encirclement of rebel positions to the south and east of Krasny Liman including the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk. Up to 4,000 separatist fighters could be involved in Thursday's fighting near Krasny Liman, and armored vehicles and possibly tanks were being used by both sides, the military source said. The reported use of tanks could not be independently confirmed. Military sources said the Ukrainian forces had fired leaflets into rebel areas giving them an ultimatum to lay down their weapons in line with the Poroshenko blueprint. "When they received a refusal, the forces of the anti-terrorist operation went over to active action," Dmytro Tymchuk, a military analyst with good sources in the military said. "There's a major battle going on which exceeds in terms of force and scale anything there has been up to now," a military source said. Olesya, a woman in the village of Yampil near Krasny Liman, said Ukrainian forces had entered the village in armored vehicles bearing the Ukrainian flag. "There's been no shooting. We residents went out into the street to watch the column - and then went back to hide in our houses again," she said by telephone from her house where she was with her husband and five-year-old daughter. "But there was fighting all night. Mines were flying over our heads. Planes flew over and we could hear heavy weapons. It's awful what is going on here," she said. "There is an ongoing active phase of the ATO (anti-terrorist operation) in the region of Krasny Liman," said Seleznyov Asked about the report that 4,000 separatists could be involved, Seleznyov, the government forces spokesman, replied: "Then, there'll be 4,000 coffins". (Reporting by Lina Kushch and Aleksandar Vasovic in Donetsk and Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; Writing By Richard Balmforth) II. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27919047 19 June 2014 Last updated at 16:49 Ukraine crisis: EU deal to be signed on 27 June Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in parliament in Kiev on Thursday The new president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has said he will sign a controversial association agreement with the EU on 27 June. His elected pro-Russian predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown in February after refusing to sign the deal at the last moment. Heavy fighting has erupted between troops and pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk region despite talk of a truce. Meanwhile, Nato says Russia has moved troops back to the Ukrainian border. In another development, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has announced it has re-established contact with two teams of its observers who were abducted in eastern Ukraine last month, and says all of them are well. "We cannot comment about the identity of those detaining them, nor statements made by any groups or individuals that are reported by media," OSCE spokeswoman Natacha Rajakovic said in Vienna. Mr Poroshenko was elected president in May on a pro-EU platform after six months of political turmoil. Since Mr Yanukovych fled Kiev, Russia has annexed part of Ukraine's territory, Crimea, and has also been accused of stoking the rebellion in the east. According to a UN estimate reported this week, at least 356 people, including 257 civilians, have been killed in eastern Ukraine since 7 May. Kiev appointments Political parts of the association agreement were signed in March by Ukraine's interim government. Mr Poroshenko made the announcement as he was replacing three senior officials in Kiev. Pavlo Klimkin was appointed foreign minister, replacing Andrii Deshchytsia, who drew outrage from Moscow at the weekend when he publicly used an obscene name to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin during a protest outside the Russian embassy in Kiev. Vitaliy Yarema was appointed chief prosecutor, replacing Oleh Makhnitskyy, an MP from the far-right Svoboda party, while Valeriya Hontaryeva took over as the country's central banker from Stepan Kubiv. Correspondents say the appointments are an assertion of authority by Mr Poroshenko. Rebel appeal Krasnyy Liman, a town of 28,000 close to the rebel stronghold of Sloviansk in Donetsk region, has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks. A Ukrainian military source told Reuters a "major battle" was under way in the area and rebels reported government artillery strikes from 04:00 (01:00 GMT). Unverified amateur video posted on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afnfYWP68To> is said to show shelling of the village of Yampil, near Krasnyi Lyman. Ukrainian government forces spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov was quoted by Reuters as saying rebels were trying to break out of an encirclement in the area after rejecting an ultimatum to surrender. According to the military source quoted by Reuters: "There's a major battle going on which exceeds in terms of force and scale anything there has been up to now." Rebel commander Igor Girkin, better known as Strelkov, said his forces at Yampol had suffered "great losses" and he feared the government troops, supported by tanks, would break through their positions. Appealing to Russia for help in a video message, he said: "I still hope Moscow will have the decency, in as much as it has any decency, to take measures." Mr Poroshenko said he was considering a temporary truce which would allow militants in Donetsk and the neighbouring Luhansk region to lay down their arms. Rebels rejected the call to surrender their arms. However, a limited truce has been observed in Luhansk, where rebels and government forces have been exchanging the bodies of their dead. Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that at least a few thousand Russian soldiers had been deployed to the border area, in addition to existing forces. "I consider this a very regrettable step backwards and it seems that Russia keeps the option to intervene further," Mr Rasmussen said in London. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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