Ukraine peace talks collapse as death toll mounts

Thirteen Ukrainian soldiers and ten civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours in east Ukraine, Kiev authorities said, after the collapse of peace talks dimmed hopes of a ceasefire.

Peace talks on Ukraine collapsed after just four hours with no tangible progress towards a new ceasefire and with Ukraine’s representative and separatist envoys angrily accusing each other of sabotaging the meeting.

Ukraine's representative, former president Leonid Kuchma, told reporters that separatist officials had undermined the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, by making ultimatums and refusing "to discuss a plan of measures for a quick ceasefire and a pull-back of heavy weapons".

Denis Pushilin, one of the separatist officials, told Russian reporters that they were ready for dialogue “but not ready for ultimatums from Kiev while shelling by their forces is going on in the background of towns in the Donbass [industrialised eastern Ukraine]”.

The meeting of the "contact group", which also involves a Russian envoy and an official from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, took place in the Belarussian capital even as fighting between Kiev's forces and the Russian-backed rebels raged on in Ukraine's east, claiming more civilian and military lives.

The outcome dashed hopes that a new ceasefire could be put together soon to stem nine months of conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists who have declared “People’s Republics” in eastern Ukraine.

Shortly before the Minsk talks broke up, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin had expressed the hope the meeting would at least produce a ceasefire agreement.

Mr Kuchma also reproached the two main separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine, who signed key agreements in Minsk last September, for failing to attend Saturday’s follow-up meeting of the “contact group”.

He said Kiev remained adamant that it wanted the separatists to honour agreements made in Minsk last September for a ceasefire as part of a 12-point blueprint for peace. That truce collapsed completely with a new rebel advance last week.

The September Minsk peace plan had also called for tighter control of the joint Russia-Ukraine border, through which Kiev says Moscow is funnelling fighters and equipment, and the freeing of prisoners held by both sides.

Death toll

The civilian and military death toll has mounted in the past two weeks after rebels launched a new offensive. In eastern Ukraine, the Kiev military reported no let-up in rebel attacks on government positions. “Fighting continues across all sections of the frontline,” Kiev military spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy said in a briefing.

Heavy shelling continued as the separatists sought to tighten a circle around government forces clinging on to control of the strategic rail and road junction of Debaltseve.

The interior ministry said a further seven civilians had been killed in shelling in Debaltseve, while the Luhansk regional administration said three civilians had been killed in shelling across the region overnight.

Debaltseve is on the main highway linking Donetsk and the important rebel-controlled city of Luhansk and is also a vital rail link for goods traffic from Russia.

The rebel advance has succeeded in seizing part of nearby Vuhlehirsk from Kiev troops, officials said, after the town was subject to near-constant shelling.

Minister for defence Stepan Poltorak said 15 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 30 wounded in clashes across the east.

Pensioner Vyacheslav Gurov said half of his town of Avdiivka had been completely destroyed. “We don‘t even know who’s shooting. Both the rebels and the national guard are at it . . . there’s no water, no electricity, no heating, nothing,” he said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the Ukraine conflict which erupted last April following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in response to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president in Kiev by street protests.

Russia denies what the west and Kiev says is incontrovertible proof that its troops are fighting on behalf of the separatists and providing them with military equipment.

Reuters