I
love to see the Empire’s propagandists have to deliver bad news
about something that did not exist until a few days ago (sic)
How
will they manage it if Poroshenko is deposed by non-existent nazis?
Debaltsevo under siege for "more than" a week - TRY WEEKS.
Ukraine
pro-Russia forces seize strategic Debaltseve railway hub despite
truce
Rebels
close in on government soldiers, trapped in ruins and running out of
food and supplies after more than a week under siege
17 February, 2015
Pro-Russia
forces seized parts of the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve in
intense street fighting, ignoring a shaky ceasefire agreement, as a
deadline for removing heavy weapons from the frontlines went
unheeded.
The
rest of the conflict zone appeared calm on Tuesday, three days after
a halt in hostilities, negotiated by Russian, Ukrainian, French and
German leaders, came into effect. But in Kiev, a senior official
warned that “the hopes of the world for peace are being destroyed”.
Rebels
who claimed a moral imperative to fight for the town closed in on
government soldiers, trapped in bombed-out ruins and running out of
food and supplies after more than a week under siege.
Separatist
troops have been shelling any government forces that tried to move in
or out from the main Ukrainian lines 10 miles away.
The
size of Debaltseve – it was home to around 25,000 people before the
war emptied its streets – belies its importance to rebels as the
site of a rail junction connecting their strongholds of Donetsk and
Luhansk.
Vladimir
Putin sought to delay the ceasefire by 10 days because he wanted to
give separatists time to capture the town, an EU summit was told last
week.
Now
leaders of pro-Russia forces appear to be gambling that the ceasefire
can wait while they battle for Debaltseve, and have effectively put
the provisions of the deal on hold.
The
rebels have been trying to take the town for weeks, and on Tuesday
Kiev’s forces appeared to be losing their grip on the bombed-out
remains of its streets, and the crucial train junction.
“The
railway station is partially under the control of the terrorist
fighters,” said Ilya Kiva, deputy head of the Donetsk regional
police. “Active fighting is going on inside the city, there’s
essentially a struggle for every block and every street,” he told
television channel 112 Ukraine.
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He
denied reports that the police station had also fallen, including one
from journalist Andrei Tsaplienk who said he was on the ground and
posted updates about the situation on Facebook.
“The
police station is under the control of the Ukrainian security
services,” Kiva said. “The situation could change any minute or
any hour, because we have orders to observe the ceasefire, and all we
can do is try to defend our positions in response, and we can’t
start to act with full force.”
When
reached by the Guardian on Tuesday, Kiva confirmed he was in
Debaltseve but refused to speak further because of the critical
situation.
Albert
Sardaryen, a Ukrainian national guard medic in Debaltseve, told the
Guardian that he had been trapped in the city since 5 Feb, when he
turned up for a 12-hour shift and wasn’t able to leave. The dead
and injured are not allowed out, he said.
Pro-Russia
forces are already in parts of the city and Sardaryen’s unit had
exchanged close-quarters machine gun fire with rebels on Tuesday, he
said, cutting the conversation short when mortar fire began landing
nearby.
The
original ceasefire had lasted less than an hour, he said. “It was
heavy shelling all day long and then at midnight it became silent. We
were surprised thinking it could be a real truce, but before 1am it
all resumed,” he told the Guardian by phone from inside the ruined
city.
Despite
the calm elsewhere, the violence in Debaltseve could damage the wider
ceasefire, Ukranian officials warned. The situation was heading
towards “further escalation”, the AFP quoted Valeriy Chaly,
deputy head of the presidential administration, as saying at a news
conference.
Both
sides say they cannot move their heavy weapons back from the
frontline while attacks are still underway. “We are ready at any
time, we have everything ready for a mutual withdrawal. We will not
do anything unilaterally – that would make our soldiers targets,”
Denis Pushilin said.
Berlin
said on Tuesday that both sides had agreed concrete measures to allow
international observers, from the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, to monitor the ceasefire. They have not yet
been able to access Debaltseve.
Laurent
Fabius, the French foreign inister, warned on Tuesday that key
components of the deal he helped negotiate were not being followed,
despite an overall reduction in fighting, AFP reported.
“We
can say the ceasefire is being generally respected, but there are two
major ‘buts’,” Fabius told the French parliament, naming the
fighting around Debaltseve and the failure to withdraw heavy weapons
from the frontline. “Clearly, these two aspects are fundamental.”
In
an indication of the progress rebel forces have made, Alexander
Zakharchenko, head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic,
gave an interview to LifeNews on the city’s outskirts on Tuesday in
which he said the town would be “cleansed of the enemy” within
three days.
“We’re
located in Debaltseve itself,” Zakharchenko said. “Coal from the
DPR will go to Luhansk and other cities through this railroad
junction,” he said, before he took a wound to the ankle and was
evacuated from the town. The injury was not serious, LifeNews said.
“The head of the DPR was conscious while being transported and
feels excellent,” it said.
Kiev
denies that its troops in Debaltseve are cut off, even though the
national guard medical chief in Artemivsk told the Guardian that the
last time his men had been able to evacuate injured soldiers was on
Thursday. “We took 22 wounded men out through the fields,” he
said. “The road has been impassable since Monday.”
Human
rights organisation Euromaidan SOS, which has been a key source of
information since the protests that toppled the government last
winter, reported after speaking to soldiers inside Debaltseve on
Tuesday that the “encirclement has become a reality”.
Rebels
have surrounded Ukranian soldiers in villages just outside the town,
the group said on its Facebook page, suggesting the pro-Russia forces
are trying to separate Kiev’s troops into ever smaller and more
vulnerable pockets.
From
Zero Hedge
Ukraine
"Truce" Fails: Withdrawal Deadline Passes, Debaltseve
Situation Deteriorating
17
February, 2014
UPDATE:
*POROSHENKO SAYS UN MUST NOT ALLOW FULL-SCALE WAR IN EUROPE
As
the game
of chicken between
Greece and the Eurogroup hots up, it appears another - potentially
far more deadly - is escalating in Ukraine as neither side is willing
to follow through on the terms of the Minsk Summit peace deal -
removing heavy weaponry from the frontlines - as a key deadline
passes without agreement. As
The Guardian reports,
The Ukrainian military have stated that "as
soon as the militants cease fire, the Ukrainian side will begin to
withdraw heavy weaponry from the frontline," and
the pro-Russian separatists proclaim, "We do not have the right
[to stop fighting for Debaltseve]," adding that as far as the
truce, "we
have everything ready for a mutual withdrawal. We will not do
anything unilaterally – that would make our soldiers targets."
As
The Guardian reports, and Interfax confirms, the
situation in Debaltseve is deteriorating...
Kiev on Tuesday reported artillery strikes overnight around the key transportation hub of Debaltseve while the situation in the rest of the conflict zone appeared to be calm.
An Associated Press reporter heard sustained shelling around Debaltseve – where government troops are encircled – on Tuesday morning, some coming from Grad rocket launchers.
A senior rebel representative told Reuters that the separatists cannot “morally” stop fighting for control of the town.
Denis Pushilin also said rebels could not withdraw heavy weaponry, as set out in the deal, unless Ukrainian forces did so as well.
“We do not have the right [to stop fighting for Debaltseve]. It’s even a moral thing. It’s internal territory,” Pushilin said in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
“We have to respond to fire, to work on destroying the enemy’s fighting positions.”
Asked about plans to carry out the agreement to withdraw big guns, he said: “We are ready at any time, we have everything ready for a mutual withdrawal. We will not do anything unilaterally – that would make our soldiers targets.”
As
AP reports, Russia-backed
rebels in eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday to have taken the key
transportation hub of Debaltseve as
both parties faced a deadline to start pulling back heavy weapons
from the front line.
Fierce fighting on Tuesday appeared to be focused on Debaltseve, a government-held town surrounded by rebel forces that both sides claim to be on their side of the cease-fire line. The issue was not resolved under a cease-fire agreement negotiated last week by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
Separatist leaders said in remarks carried by the rebel mouthpiece Donetsk News Agency on Tuesday afternoon that their forces have pushed the Ukrainian army out of Debaltseve, gaining control over most of the town.
...
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday that the UN is "alarmed" by reports of continued shelling in the areas and have not yet been able to get reliable information on the casualties there and the wellbeing of civilians.
"It is unclear how many civilians are still there," he said. "We are particularly concerned about the civilians trapped in the area - we believe there may be a few thousand hiding in cellars, struggling to get food, water and other basic necessities."
- *DONETSK REBELS SAY HUNDREDS OF GOVT SOLDIERS SURRENDERED: IFX
- *POROSHENKO TOLD MERKEL EU MUST RESPOND TO REBEL, RUSSIA ACTIONS
As
the following AP clip shows, there are no signs of Ukraine weapons
withdrawal at all...
As
The Guardian reports, neither
side is willing to move first...
Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed rebels failed to start pulling back heavy weaponry from the frontline in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as a deadline to do so passed.
Under a ceasefire agreement negotiated by the leaders of Ukrae, Russia, Germany and France last week, the warring sides were to begin withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line on Tuesday.
Anatoliy Stelmakh, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said in televised comments early on Tuesday that the separatists continued to attack their positions overnight and that the pullout hinged on the ceasefire being fully observed.
“As soon as the militants cease fire, the Ukrainian side will begin to withdraw heavy weaponry from the frontline,” he said.
*
* *
So
despite the market's kneejerk exuberance last week, it seems the
Minsk Summit peace deal is about as effective as the last peace
deal... time for more sanctions and costs...
- *POROSHENKO CALLS FOR `TOUGH' EU REACTION TO DEBALTSEVE ATTACKS
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