Fighting continues in Ukraine despite Minsk meeting

Stubborn and hard talks, according to the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, held behind closed doors with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday night at Minsk produced no miracle -the fighting continues Wednesday with equal intensity in Luhansk provinces and Donetsk-, but at least let warm hints of hope by Poroshenko, to draw a roadmap for achieving a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, and by Putin, the influence pro-Russian separatists in the negotiations between them and Kiev can pay off. However, the situation on the ground, with the continued fighting and the start of a rebel counteroffensive to regain ground to government forces, qualifies all optimism.

After two hours of ” very hard and complex ” face to face talks with Putin, Poroshenko said that a ” roadmap will be prepared in order to achieve as soon as possible ceasefire should be bilateral.”  If insist on the cessation of hostilities seeks the surrender of the rebels, few doubt that the answer receive the Ukrainian authorities of these will be negative.

Poroshenko wants tight control of the border with Russia and therefore considers that surveillance should be supervised by the OSCE, something that Moscow, as already stated, does not object. Rather, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and operates a mission of this organization consists of 500 men, which may be extended if they so wish and have the mandate to use modern control equipment, including drones. This Tuesday night, the Russian and Ukrainian presidents agreed, moreover, that the chiefs of staff of both countries would meet to discuss border control.

Putin, during his speech at the beginning of the summit Tuesday in Minsk between the Customs Union (Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia) and Ukraine with the participation of the European Union, focused on economic issues, said after his meeting with Poroshenko that Moscow can not come to discuss terms of a ceasefire, as they must agree are the representatives of Kiev, on the one hand, and those of Donetsk and Lugansk other.

“We can only help create an atmosphere of trust for a possible and, in my opinion, very necessary process of dialogue” between the Ukrainian government and the rebels of the East, Putin said. The Russian leader added that it has reached an agreement as regards both humanitarian aid to the provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk, as negotiations on gas supply. Discussions about between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels should resume in the first decade of September.

Despite not having yielded extraordinary results, the mere fact of the meeting in Minsk and is, as emphasized by the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, ” a success ” has been concluded.

Battlefront in front of the eastern Ukraine, Minsk summit  seems to be influenced, as heavy fighting continued Wednesday in the rebel provinces, where separatists launched three days ago a counteroffensive to regain ground against the troops of Kievhas been successful. The pro-Russian claim to have recovered several locations as well as the strategic hill – Mogila Saur. Also, ensure that besiege three detachments of Ukrainian troops, which have been proposed surrender.

Kiev, meanwhile, recognizes blocking one group of his soldiers, and lists his own victories: many armored vehicles and launch systems destroyed missiles and killed more than 200 militants in the towns of Gorlivka and Ilovaysk in Donetsk province. At the same time he admits as low in the last 24 hours 13 soldiers killed and 36 wounded. It also recognizes the rebel counteroffensive and ensures that they are attacking cities and Jriashevátoye Novosvétlovka, held by government forces.

Moreover, the Kiev authorities have reported that another group of Russian soldiers have crossed the border aboard armored infantry and trucks and entered the town of Amvrosiyivka in the east.

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Posted by Jamshed Sindhu on Aug 28 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.