Ukraine and Nato demand Russia and rebels respect truce deal

Kiev and Nato have urged Moscow to do more to help establish a genuine ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, where fighting is still raging around Donetsk airport and shelling and shooting continue to kill and injure civilians.

Ukraine's pro-western government says scores of its soldiers have been killed since the signing of a September 5th truce deal raised hopes of an end to the conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed more than 3,500 lives, injured more than 8,000 people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Pro-Kremlin rebels, allegedly backed by Russian soldiers and armour, are still trying to seize Donetsk airport, in the face of dogged resistance from isolated government forces.

Broad self-rule

"Today we can say that the Russian side does not have the political, or any other, will to fulfil the peace deal," Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said yesterday.

He told diplomats from member states of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that Russia had not withdrawn all its forces from Ukraine, or stopped giving help to the rebels, or acted to close the countries' shared border, across which fighters and weapons have flowed freely to the militants.

“The preliminary agreements reached in Minsk could lead us towards peace. But today I am very sceptical about how they are being fulfilled,” he said.

Kiev has offered broad self-rule to the partly rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions that border Russia, but the militants have rejected the offer as insufficient.

The regions have also pledged to hold their own elections on November 2nd in defiance of the rest of Ukraine, which is preparing for a parliamentary ballot on October 26th.

Moscow insists it is not helping the insurgents, who reject Kiev’s authority and want independence or unification with Russia.

The Kremlin blames Kiev’s pro-western leaders for the conflict, accusing them of drawing support from Russian-hating “fascist” elements.

Political solution

The EU and United States have threatened to tighten economic sanctions on Russia if it fails to help implement the ceasefire deal, and Nato has regularly accused Moscow of sending troops and shellfire into Ukraine and massing forces on its border.

"It is important that Russia use all its influence to make sure that the ceasefire is also respected by the separatists," Nato's new secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday in Warsaw.

“The ceasefire is important. It is a reason for concern that we see so many violations,” he added, while praising Ukraine’s leaders for “doing a lot, to both [respect] the ceasefire and also to contribute to a political solution.”

The former Norwegian premier insisted, however, that “there is no contradiction between a strong Nato and building constructive relations with Russia”.

Some Nato members have suggested they may sell arms to Ukraine, but western powers have made clear they will not intervene militarily in the conflict.

France and Germany reportedly plan to send drone aircraft to monitor the ceasefire, and two drones to be operated by OSCE monitors in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces have already arrived in Ukraine.