http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/09/13/ukraine-state-of-war/15574715/
Ukraine fends off rebel attack near Donetsk airport For people living close to the airport in eastern Ukraine's city of Donetsk there is no ceasefire with ongoing shelling damaging buildings and devastating lives. Video provided by AFP Newslook Ledyard King, Gannett Washington Bureau 2:35 p.m. EDT September 13, 2014 Ukraine fended off an attack by pro-Russian rebels at a major airport Saturday as Moscow sent another convoy of aid into the country, underscoring the fragility of the cease-fire between the two countries. Ukrainian military leaders repelled separatists at Donetsk airport as another round of fighting erupted in the eastern part of the country Saturday, about a week after the cease-fire agreement was reached. A volley of rockets struck residential buildings near the airport but no casualties were reported, according to a statement posted on the City Council website. Heightening tensions further was Moscow's decision to send a second convoy of trucks into Ukraine without its consent. The fighting prompted Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's to assert Saturday that, despite a truce, his country remains locked in a conflict prodded by its powerful neighbor. "This government is the wartime government. And let me put it bluntly -- we are still in the state of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation," Yatsenyuk said in a speech at a conference of Ukrainian and European officials in Yalta. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country annexed most of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March, has consistently denied that Russian troops have entered eastern Ukraine. But he defends the Russian-speaking minority's right to defend themselves. Ukraine A Ukrainian army helicopter flies over their positions in Debaltsevo, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday.(Photo: Efrem Lukatsky, AP) Meanwhile, a convoy of about 200 trucks, which Russian news outlets said were filled with almost 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid, rolled across the Russian border and into Ukraine. The first trucks delivered shipments of cereals, sugar, medicines and warm clothes, among other items, to the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk, according to a report by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. Five-liter containers with drinking water "brought special joy to residents who had been left without water for more than a month," ITAR-TASS reported. In August, Ukrainian officials called the first convoy of humanitarian aid from Russia an invasion of the country, and loudly protested any attempts by Russia to unilaterally bring in the aid. Eventually, Russia allowed its trucks to cross into rebel-held territory without the oversight of the International Red Cross, contrary to an agreement signed between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian officials' silence on the second convoy shows how dramatically the mood has shifted in the Kiev government, where President Petro Poroshenko has been at pains to prove that a cease-fire deal, riddled by violations since it was imposed last week, has yielded improvements on the ground in east Ukraine. AFP_533370329_67208338 A Ukrainian soldier stands guard as residents rally in support of a united Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, on Sept. 13, 2014. The Ukrainian military said Saturday its forces had repelled an insurgent attack on the airport in the eastern separatist stronghold of Donetsk, despite an eight-day truce.(Photo: Alexander Khudoteply, AFP/Getty Images) But in his speech Saturday, Yatsenyuk said important government-proposed reforms to benefit the entire country have been sytmied by the ongoing conflict. "If we stop the war, if we contain Russia -- we will get the chance to attract international investors, because it is not an easy job to attract an international investor when you have in your country already Russian tanks and Russian artillery," he said. Contributing: The Associated Press -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
