SANCTIONS INCREASED
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of arming and supplying manpower to the separatists and on Monday, the European Union increased sanctions intended to pressure Moscow into changing its course. The E.U. added 19 people and nine organizations to its list of sanctioned Russian entities, including two Russian deputy defense ministers, the eastern Ukraine-born Russian crooner Iosif Kobzon, who sang to the rebel leaders in Donetsk last year, and several separatist commanders. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to the decision, calling it “clumsy” in the context of last week’s cease-fire deal.
— Associated Press
Intense artillery exchanges between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists persisted Monday around a strategic town in eastern Ukraine — fighting that threatens to dash a cease-fire deal brokered last week.
Under the agreement negotiated by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, the warring sides are to begin withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line today. That plan already looks to be at risk, with the rebels saying they are not satisfied that conditions are in place for the process to proceed.
The bitterly contested railway hub of Debaltseve remains in contention despite the cease-fire. The rebels insist the town should revert to their control because they have encircled it.
Speaking by telephone Monday night, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed concern about the continued fighting, an official in Hollande’s entourage said.
Observers from the Organization from Security and Cooperation in Europe, who are supposed to monitor the cease-fire, said Sunday that separatists had denied them access to Debaltseve.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Monday afternoon that the U.S. was concerned about the continued warfare and statements by the separatists that they refuse to observe the cease-fire, which went into effect Sunday. Five Ukrainian troops were killed and 25 were wounded in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Monday.
Separatist military official Eduard Basurin said in a televised news conference Monday that the government overnight had lobbed artillery at Horlivka, a town under rebel control.
Ukraine, however, blamed that attack on the rebels. The government-appointed police chief of the Donetsk region, Vyacheslav Abroskin, said the separatists shelled the town in order to derail the truce.
The cease-fire appeared to hold elsewhere. The city hall of the rebel capital Donetsk, which came under heavy artillery fire in the past week, said there was no fighting in the area Monday.
The cease-fire had raised cautious hopes for an end to the 10-month-old conflict, which has already claimed more than 5,300 lives. But Ukraine and rebel officials have traded multiple accusations of attacks since then.
Both the separatists and the Ukrainian government insist they are committed to the cease-fire. But the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Basurin as saying Monday that conditions are not yet ready to pull back heavy weapons on Tuesday.
“We will begin pulling back equipment from the line of contact if we receive a certain signal, which is if the Ukrainians also do the same thing,” Basurin was quoted as saying.
In Berlin, Merkel appealed for the cease-fire to be respected. “The situation is fragile,” she conceded. “(But) that was certainly to be expected with a view to Debaltseve.”
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