16 September 2014

Armed Clashes Intensify Over the Weekend Between Ukrainian and Rebel Forces in the Eastern Ukrainian; Russian Drones Flying Over Ukrainian Stronghold of Mariupol

Heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels over the weekend

Anthony Faiola and Daniela Deane

Washington Post, September 15, 2014
Pro-Russian rebels ride on an armored personnel carrier during a parade in Luhanks, eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 14, 2014. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)

KIEV, Ukraine — Heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists
was reported over the weekend, with the Ukrainians claiming hundreds of cease-fire violations, including an assault by more than 200 rebels near Donetsk airport.

The situation in eastern Ukraine remains tense,” the Ukraine Crisis Center reported in Kiev. “Terrorists continue to provoke military action.”

They said rebels had broken the shaky cease-fire 249 times and had shelled Ukrainian military positions 49 times. It said two drones were spotted over the weekend, one traveling towards the strategic port city of Mariupol, where heavy fighting had recently been reported.

The United States is concerned about renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine since the cease-fire went into effect Sept. 5 and has no details about the content of a Russian convoy that entered and left Ukraine over the weekend, a State Department official said.

The recent heavy fighting has claimed several civilian casualties, according to spokesmen from the break-away Donetsk People’s Republic, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday. Almost 3,000 people have died in the brutal five-month-old conflict.

Russia still has about 25,000 troops along its long border with Ukraine, and more than 3,000 soldiers inside the country, according to the Ukrainian government. Russia denies sending troops.

The U.S. and other NATO countries are starting military exercises in Ukraine today. Ukraine has recently sought to join the NATO alliance, a move Russia has condemned.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a conference on Iraq taking place in Paris Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied supporting the rebels in eastern Ukraine, something the West insists is fomenting the crisis.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, are discussing deploying more monitoring specialists to Ukraine to observe the fragile cease-fire, the Crisis Center reported.

The OSCE said a monitoring team was on patrol in an area of Donetsk Sunday when mortar shells exploded close to the team, which was then forced to immediately leave the area.

The Ukrainian prime minister accused Russia Saturday of planning to destroy his country and said that only NATO membership would enable Ukraine to defend itself from this external aggression.

The U.S. and the E.U. have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia, including fresh ones last week, because of its involvement in the confict. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told members of the country’s ruling party Monday that Russia is being tested by the sanctions, but that it must respond calmly.

“When a series of our partners, if they can be called that, test Russia’s strength through sanctions and all kinds of threats, it is important not to succumb to the temptation of so-called easy solutions and to preserve and continue the development of democratic processes in our society, our state,” Medvedev said in a televised speech.

Russia quickly annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea at the beginning of the conflict.

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