Ukraine troops begin retreat from battered railway hub as cease-fire crumbles

Posted 2015-02-18 12:13 by Grunt Report with 0 comments

Ukrainian government troops retreated from a key railway hub in the east of the country Wednesday after pro-Russian separatist rebels overran the town and Kiev admitted it no longer had control of the situation.

Fierce fighting around the town of Debaltseve, through which railroads linking the two major separatist cities of Donetsk and Luhansk pass, had been raging for days despite a cease-fire deal brokered by European leaders which went into effect on Sunday, to be followed by the withdrawal of heavy weaponry beginning Tuesday. Hundreds if not thousands of Ukrainian troops were believed to be trapped in the town.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Semyon Semenchenko, a member of parliament and commander of a pro-Kiev volunteer battalion, wrote on Facebook that “the withdrawal for forces from Debaltseve is being conducted in a planned and organized way.”

However, a military spokesman in Kiev said troops were “regrouping” and continuing to fight in Debaltseve. “The enemy, grossly violating the peace agreements, began to storm Debaltseve after a massive artillery assault.”

The separatists have claimed that the area around Debaltseve isn’t covered by the cease-fire deal. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who helped broker the agreement last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested while visiting Budapest last week that Ukrainian forces should lay down their arms.

“Of course, it’s always bad to lose,” Mr. Putin told reporters, according to The Journal. “Of course it’s always a hardship when you lose to yesterday’s miners or yesterday’s tractor drivers. But life is life. It’ll surely go on.”

The U.S., Ukraine, and NATO say that Russia has been arming and training the rebels since the conflict began last year. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusation.

Associated Press reporters on the road to the government-controlled town of Artemivsk saw several dozen Ukrainian troops retreating with their weapons from Debaltseve on Wednesday morning. Covered in dirt and looking tired, some of them were driving to Artemivsk in trucks while several other men, unshaven and visibly upset, were on foot. Angry that they had not received any reinforcement from the government, they said they had to retreat and walk for a whole day.

Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh said in a televised briefing on Wednesday that the rebels launched five artillery strikes on Debaltseve overnight thus “grossly violating the peace accords.”

AP journalists were turned back by rebel forces outside Vuhlehirsk, about six miles west of Debaltseve, early on Wednesday and were unable to assess the status of the fight. Regular artillery fire, coming from the rebel side, was heard in the area.

Kiev has admitted that soldiers had been taken prisoner in Debaltseve, but gave no details on how many were seized.

Rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin said hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered in Debaltseve. Russian state-owned television on Wednesday showed images of several dozen Ukrainian troops being escorted along a village road by the rebels.

Rebel leaders said on Wednesday that they have begun the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the parts of the frontline where the cease-fire holds. Eduard Basurin told Russian Rossiya 1 channel that they are now pulling back five self-propelled guns from Olenivka, south of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on the road to the government-controlled port of Mariupol.

“This is the first step,” Basurin said. “And we’re not waiting for Ukraine to start pulling back the weaponry together with us.”

Observers from the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, the group responsible for monitoring the cease-fire, have attempted to go to Debaltseve since Sunday but have been blocked by the rebels.

The separatists’ Donetsk News Agency on Wednesday quoted rebel official Maxim Leshchenko saying that the OSCE will be allowed to visit Debaltseve “soon” once their forces have finished the operation there.