Poroshenko
warns of ‘detailed Plan B’ if Ukraine ceasefire fails
If his current proposal for a truce, which came into force on Friday, fails to bring results, Ukraine’s newly elected president Petro Poroshenko warns he has an alternative “detailed plan” of regaining control over south-eastern Ukraine.
RT,
22
June, 2014
“Peaceful
scenario – it is our plan A,” Poroshenko
said in a statement on his website. “But
those who expect to use the peace talks only to gain time to regroup,
should know that we have a detailed plan B. I am not going to talk
about it now, because I believe that our peace plan will work.”
The
ceasefire in eastern Ukraine took effect on June 20 and will last
until June 27, the day Kiev plans to sign the EU Association
agreement.
However, “the
military will be given the right to return fire if Ukrainian army
units or peaceful civilians are attacked,” Poroshenko
said in his decree.
Since then, the tensions have slightly eased in some areas, but the
Ukrainian army is still using artillery and the air force in sporadic
clashes with anti-Kiev militias.
Poroshenko
claims the ceasefire is designed to enable local self-defence
militias to lay down their arms and flee the country, or be
destroyed. He also, while drafting the plan with Kiev-appointed
governors of the defiant regions, rejected any possibility of
negotiations with representatives of anti-Kiev forces.
While
welcoming Kiev’s ceasefire efforts, the Russian president said the
current peace plan on the table“should
not take the form of an ultimatum to militia groups,” according
to the Kremlin statement.
It’s not enough to just put hostilities on pause, but vital to
immediately start “constructive
negotiations” to
reach a viable compromise between the parties to the conflict.
“Russia
notes that the proposed plan will not be viable or realistic if no
practical steps are taken to commence the negotiation process,” the
statement reads, shedding doubt that it would work as “the
confrontation continues and shells from the Ukrainian side land and
explode on the Russian territory.”
Speaking
to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois
Hollande, Putin said he supported Poroshenko’s “intentions,” but
added that the Ukrainian president’s plan “should
be reinforced by a real ceasefire."
Meanwhile,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that most clauses of
President Poroshenko's peace plan look more like an ultimatum to the
militias in Donetsk and Lugansk regions rather than an invitation to
dialogue.
“The
plan lacks the key thing – a proposal to start dialogue. This is a
drastic departure from the Geneva statement of April 17 which is
still supported by all of our Western partners, the United States,
the European Union and the Ukrainian authorities or at least they say
so,” Lavrov
told journalists during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
Lavrov
once again highlighted that Moscow is alarmed that Kiev continues the
shelling, which now impact Russian border crossings with Ukraine.
“We
are very much alarmed and worried by the fact that simultaneously
with the announcement of the peace plan, a military operation was
stepped up, which resulted in people wounded on the Russian side,”he
said.
Despite
the “unilateral
ceasefire,” fighting
continues in the southeast of the country. While in general the
situation is “calm,” there
have been clashes in some areas, the Lugansk People’s Republic said
in a statement. It was reported that an artillery shell hit the roof
of a kindergarten in Kramatorsk, partly destroying the building. At
the same time, self-defense troops of the Donetsk People’s Republic
targeted positions of Ukrainian armed forces at Karachun Mountain,
Itar-Tass reports.
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