Ukrainian troops recaptured almost all the territory of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine they had lost to separatists in recent weeks, even as thousands gathered in Kiev for a state-sponsored peace march yesterday.
The offensive brought fighting close to the industrial city of Donetsk itself, the centre of a pro-Russian rebellion, while shelling intensified in other parts of the region which are known as the “Donbass”.
With attempts to restart peace talks stalled, pro-Russian rebels have stepped up attacks in the past week and casualties have mounted, including 13 civilians killed in an attack on a passenger bus, which Kiev blamed on the separatists.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the army’s operation had returned the battle lines near the airport to the previous status quo and thus not violated the 12-point peace plan agreed to with Russia and separatist leaders last September in Minsk.
We succeeded in almost completely cleansing the territory of the airport, which belongs to the Ukrainian forces
“We succeeded in almost completely cleansing the territory of the airport, which belongs to the territory of Ukrainian forces as marked by military separation lines,” he told a televised briefing
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was concerned by yesterday’s “escalation” by Ukrainian forces.
“This state of affairs in no way contributes to the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the future search for a resolution,” the Interfax agency quoted him as saying.
Elsewhere in the region, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said two brothers, aged seven and 16, had been killed and their 8-year-old sister injured when a shell struck a house in the government-controlled town of Vuhlehirsk, 60 km from Donetsk.
Spokesman Vyacheslav Abroskin said the shelling had come from the direction of Yenakiieve, which is controlled by the rebels.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addressed a crowd of several thousand gathered in Kiev for a peace march in memory of those killed on the passenger bus.
“We will not give away one scrap of Ukrainian land. We will get back the Donbass... and show that a very important aspect of our victory is our unity,” he said.
Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko blamed the shelling around Donetsk on the Ukrainian army. “We’re talking about Kiev trying to unleash war again,” Interfax quoted Zakharchenko as saying.
A ceasefire agreed to at the talks in Minsk, capital of Belarus, in early September has been regularly violated since the start by both sides, and fighting has flared up again since plans for peace talks last week were abandoned.
In Donetsk, a coal-and-steel city with a pre-war population of almost one million, residents reported a sharp intensification of fighting.
“It was impossible to sleep – explosions, the walls were shaking. It seemed like they were firing from near the building ... The DNR [rebel] army were firing from our district,” 53-year-old advertising executive Alla said by telephone.
The World Health Organisation says more than 4,800 people have been killed in the conflict.
Despite what Kiev and the West says is incontrovertible proof, Russia denies its troops are involved or that it is funnelling military equipment to the separatists.
With its runways pitted and cratered, Donetsk airport has long since ceased to function.
But its control tower and extensive outbuildings, battered by shelling and gunfire, have taken on symbolic value, with government soldiers and separatists hunting each other, often at close range, in a deadly cat-and-mouse game among the ruins.