Ukraine poised to act as shelling intensifies

Ukraine says it is ready to respond with full force to what it calls a sharp escalation in shelling from Russian-backed rebels in eastern regions, amid calls for calm from western powers who fear a resumption of all-out fighting.

Officials said Ukrainian soldiers had in recent days come under their heaviest fire for six months along much of the frontline in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in contravention of a ceasefire agreed in Minsk, Belarus, in February.

"The latest examples of the escalation in the situation were [part of] a deliberate, carefully planned operation," Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin said yesterday.

“All these cases serve as examples of the fact that the Russian side, together with Donetsk and Luhansk, are trying to break the agreements reached in Minsk.”

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's army, said yesterday one serviceman had been killed and three injured over the previous 24 hours. He also claimed the rebels had fired multiple rocket systems at Ukrainian positions south of Donetsk, in the direction of the strategic port of Mariupol.

Minsk agreement

“In the zone of the anti-terrorist operation we are preparing for active defence, strengthening our armed forces with new weapons and military equipment,”

Oleksandr Turchinov

, the head of Ukraine’s security council, said.

He insisted Kiev’s forces were sticking to the Minsk agreement, but added: “At the same time, active defence envisages quick and effective reaction to any provocation from the enemy side.”

International monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this week reported an increase in ceasefire violations, and the European Union expressed alarm at attacks.

“The renewed escalation of the conflict raising the number of casualties . . . violates the spirit and the letter of the Minsk agreements,” an EU spokesman said on Tuesday.

“The Minsk agreements must be implemented in good faith, starting with full observation of the ceasefire and genuine withdrawal of heavy weapons. Further impetus must be given to talks . . . allowing for complete implementation of the Minsk agreements . . .”

Decentralisation of power and local elections are key elements of the Minsk deal, but Kiev says a fair vote is impossible in regions controlled by armed gangs allegedly guided, funded and armed by Russia.

Kiev is demanding Moscow allow it to retake control of long sections of the Ukraine-Russia border controlled by the militants and open to flows of Russian arms and fighters; Moscow says it will only allow this when the rebels are satisfied with reforms by Ukraine's government.

Russian and rebel denial

The rebels deny intensifying attacks on Ukrainian positions and accuse Kiev’s forces of shelling them, while Russia denies involvement in a conflict that has killed more than 6,700 and displaced over 1.5 million since April 2014.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin discussed with his national security council yesterday. On Tuesday, Mr Klimkin discussed the escalation in fighting with the foreign ministers of Germany and France.

Monitors from the OSCE have also come under fire in recent days, and in the early hours of Sunday four of the group’s vehicles were set ablaze in Donetsk.

“There are, it seems, some who would like the OSCE to stop reporting on what is going on in Donetsk . . . It is the responsibility of those in effective control in Donetsk city to provide the [OSCE] protection for its staff and property,” the group said.