Pro-Moscow separatists battled to break through lines of government forces near the border with Russia in eastern Ukraine yesterday, and a tentative step towards agreeing a ceasefire in the intensifying three-month conflict failed.
Fighting has escalated sharply since Ukrainian forces pushed rebels out of their stronghold in the town of Slaviansk 10 days ago. The past several days have seen Russia and Ukraine trade accusations of firing across the border.
Ukraine’s military said 11 more troops were killed in the space of 24 hours, mostly in clashes near the frontier.
Ukraine has been trying to put down a revolt by heavily-armed fighters, many of them from Russia, who have sought independence for two eastern provinces since April.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March after a pro-Russian president was ousted in Kiev. Moscow denies supporting the separatists in eastern Ukraine, but Kiev says many of the fighters and their leaders have travelled from Russia and brought heavy weapons across the border.
Ukrainian troops have focussed their efforts in recent days on securing the frontier to prevent the arrival of more fighters and weapons. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s defence and security council, told journalists the separatists had attacked government positions along the border overnight.
Government troops had been ambushed by separatists at Izvarino on the border and there had been early morning clashes near the border settlement of Stepanivka when separatists tried to break out of encirclement by the army, he said.
Everything which is happening in Ukraine has been planned by Russia since 2004. Putin has a clear plan and that is to destroy Ukraine
Two days after the downing of a government An-26 transport plane, Ukrainian warplanes had been given the go-ahead to resume flights over the east, Lysenko said. Kiev says it believes the transporter was hit by a missile fired from Russia.
A separate SU-25 fighter plane was hit by a rebel rocket yesterday, but the pilot made a successful emergency landing and there was only slight damage to the aircraft, the defence ministry said. No-one was hurt.
The escalation in recent days has once more raised the prospect that Moscow could intervene directly in Ukraine, after weeks in which President Vladimir Putin had appeared keen to disengage.
Putin had withdrawn tens of thousands of troops he had massed at the frontier, but Kiev says their numbers have again been rising as troops are returning to the border area.
In telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko set out evidence of fighters crossing into Ukraine from Russia with heavy military equipment, his website said.
“Everything which is happening in Ukraine has been planned by Russia since 2004. Putin has a clear plan and that is to destroy Ukraine and establish his influence over post-Soviet space,” Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in a speech carried by his website.