Ukraine’s defence chief said yesterday government forces had regained control of the border with Russia and could stop supplies being sent to arm pro-Russian separatists, but fighting raged for a second day.
A spokesman for government forces said about 300 separatists had been killed in fighting on Thursday in an eastern area about 100 kilometres from the border where fighting continued yesterday. Ukrainian forces had lost seven servicemen.
The rebel casualties could not be verified independently.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko meanwhile prepared for a round of high diplomacy to sell a peace plan to allies and adversaries alike in a bid to end the rebel insurgency that threatens the unity of the country.
The biggest challenge for the newly installed Poroshenko will be to win real support from Russian President Vladimir Putin for his plan, with relations at rock bottom amid Ukrainian accusations that Moscow fomented the unrest.
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Moscow denies orchestrating the unrest and supporting the rebels. It has urged Ukraine to end “punitive” action against the separatists and engage in dialogue with them. Poroshenko’s 14-point peace plan would start with a unilateral ceasefire by Ukrainian forces and offer a safety corridor out to Russia for rebels and volunteer Russian fighters on condition they lay down their arms.
It also calls for establishment of a 10 kilometre-wide “buffer zone” along the 1,900-kilometre-long border, according to an unofficial copy leaked to Ukrainian media.
The plan would offer freedom from prosecution for separatists who put down their arms and had not committed “serious crimes” and require all hostages to be freed.
It calls for “decentralisation” of powers and full Russian-language rights to address the grievances of people in the east.
Ukraine says fighters from Russia and supplies of guns and other military equipment have been pouring into the country to support the separatists, who rose up against Kiev’s new authorities after the overthrow of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych in February.
Relations with Russia have deteriorated sharply since the ousting of Yanukovych, Russia’s subsequent annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of separatism in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east. But the pro-Western Poroshenko, installed in office on June 7, is under pressure all the same to secure support from Russia, as well as his backers in the West, for his plan.