Ukraine’s prime minister told government forces to remain on full battle alert yesterday as fighting in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk killed at least two civilians and further strained a ceasefire with Russian-backed separatists.
"Russia definitely will not give us either peace or stability. It is not their goal. So I am asking the defence minister for full battle readiness," Arseny Yatseniuk, who is emerging as a policy hawk in president Petro Poroshenko's leadership, told a government meeting.
The pro-western Mr Poroshenko, who will be looking for US support for his strategy in handling the separatist rebellions and Russia when he addresses the US Congress today, called the ceasefire on September 5th after heavy battlefield losses which Kiev ascribes to Russian military intervention.
Moscow denies its armed forces are involved in the fighting despite what Kiev and western governments say is undeniable proof.
Russia's objection to Kiev's pro-Europe course since the ousting of the Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich by street protests in February lies at the core of the crisis.
Speaking at a news conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the ceasefire in Ukraine was holding and that the frequency of violations was likely to decrease.
"Our evaluation and the evaluation of our colleagues from the European Union is that the ceasefire still remains in place," Mr Lavrov said. He said that Ukrainian troops were behind violations.
Shaky ceasefire
The shaky ceasefire is part of Mr Poroshenko’s wider plan to end a conflict which has killed more than 3,000 civilians and which Mr Yatseniuk said yesterday was costing the country 80 million hryvnia (€4.6 million) a day.
Crucially, his plan includes a politically risky offer of temporary and limited self-rule, within a united Ukraine, to separatist-held areas in the east, a move designed to blunt an independence drive threatening to break up the ex-Soviet country.
Moscow yesterday welcomed granting “special status” to the two rebel regions in east Ukraine and warned against any attempts to change that decision.
Mr Poroshenko, hoping to consolidate his rule with a parliamentary election on October 26th, could be vulnerable if he is seen by Ukrainians to be accepting peace on Moscow’s terms.
Anti-corruption drive
Mr Yatseniuk made a pitch for grassroots support for a coalition with Mr Poroshenko when he announced a purge of civil service ranks to rid it of corruption and lingering loyalty to the old order, something supporters of the “Euro-maidan” revolt against Mr Yanukovich have been calling for.
He said one million civil servants, including government ministers, would be screened for loyalty under new legislation passed on Tuesday.
The rebels have all but rejected the special status plan, which would allow the self-proclaimed “people’s republics” to hold their own elections, set up their own policing and “deepen” relations with Russia for a three-year period. They say they see no future as part of Ukraine.
It has also met with criticism from Mr Poroshenko’s erstwhile political allies in Kiev’s pro-western establishment, many of whom fear it will lock in place a breakaway region under Russian protection similar to those in Moldova and Georgia.
Ukraine on Tuesday ratified an association and trade agreement with the EU, a deal whose rejection by Mr Yanukovich last November led to his ousting. – (Reuters)