Russia accuses Ukraine of aiming to destroy Minsk accords
The Ukrainian president's call "raises suspicions that he wants to destroy the Minsk accords", Mr Churkin said.
The Minsk ceasefire deal was reached a week ago but fighting round the strategic city of Debaltseve saw the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops there.
Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine also criticised the proposal.
Mr Churkin accused Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of seeking a new scheme instead of doing what he had signed up to.
"If one proposes new schemes right away, the question arises whether [the accords] will be respected", he said.
The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic described the call for peacekeepers as a violation of the Minsk accords and asked the other parties to the deal - Moscow, Berlin and Paris - to influence Kiev.
The leaders of all four countries will discuss the situation over the phone again on Thursday, a statement from the Kremlin says.Mr Poroshenko called for UN-mandated peacekeepers to enforce the ceasefire after fighting continued following the rebel advance on Debaltseve.
A police mission by the European Union would be the best format for a peacekeeping operation, Mr Poroshenko said on his website.
It would help guarantee security "in a situation where the promise of peace is not being kept", he told an emergency meeting of Ukraine's national security and defence council.
Nearly 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers withdrew from Debaltseve on Wednesday.
Mr Poroshenko said the withdrawal had been organised, but that at least six soldiers were killed and more than 100 wounded.
Earlier, a senior Ukrainian military official said 22 Ukrainian soldiers had died in Debaltseve over the past three days. Rebel claims of a much higher figure have been dismissed by the government.
The ceasefire, which officially came into effect on Sunday, has been broadly observed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine and some heavy weaponry is said to have been withdrawn by both sides.
However, monitors from the OSCE security group have been unable to reach Debaltseve.Rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin said the town was now "completely under the control" of the separatists, with just "scattered" pockets of resistance that were being "neutralised".
He claimed that more than 300 government soldiers had been taken prisoner. Ukraine's government admitted some troops were being held.All Wednesday, the road out of Debaltseve into government-held territory thundered to the sound of retreating armour - tanks and troop carriers full of exhausted, sometimes defiant soldiers.
In a bus by the side of the road, I found one Yuri slumped on his seat, across the aisle from a sleeping colleague.
He said the situation had become increasingly dire and individual units had taken their own decisions to leave. They were running out of ammunition and in danger of being surrounded, he told me.
He blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for deceiving everyone about the ceasefire. We know him well by now, he said. When he says something is guaranteed, that means there's some kind of trap coming up.
In nearby fields, mortars and multiple rocket launchers fired back at the rebels - providing cover for those still trying to leave Debaltseve.
President Poroshenko says the withdrawal was planned and organised, but on the ground, it looked like a hasty retreat in the face of overwhelming odds.
line
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said the rebels' offensive had put the wider peace agreement at risk.
The White House said both the rebels and Russia had failed to live up to the terms of the Minsk agreement.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted the rebels' actions in Debaltseve had not violated the ceasefire because it was a rebel-held city at the time of the agreement.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow said the feeling there is that a lull in the fighting may now be possible - rather than an immediate push for more territory by the rebels.
Correspondents say the loss of Debaltseve is a significant setback for Ukraine because of its strategic position as a transport hub between the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.Most of its 25,000 population has been evacuated but about 5,000 civilians are still believed to be in the town.
Fighting began in eastern Ukraine in April, a month after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.
The UN says more than 5,600 people have been killed, but there are fears the actual death toll could be much higher.
Ukraine's pro-Western government says Russia is supporting the separatists with troops and weapons, but the Kremlin has consistently denied this.
0 comments:
Post a Comment