Ukraine Says Rebels Massing Forces Amid Germanys Warning
Ukraines military said the separatists battling government troops are regrouping and mobilizing forces across the countrys war-torn east.
Pro-Russian insurgents are reinforcing their positions on the outskirts of the port city of Mariupol and massing armored vehicles in other parts of the Donetsk region, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said at a briefing in Kiev yesterday, adding that a full mobilization was announced in four rebel-held towns.
The cease-fire negotiated two months ago is coming undone as Ukraine and its allies in the U.S. and Europe accuse Russia of continuing to arm rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied military involvement. More than 4,000 people have been killed and about 9,000 wounded in the conflict, according to the United Nations.
Everything suggests that the parties are making renewed preparations for violent conflict, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters at a foreign-policy conference in Berlin. We have to prevent that.
European Union foreign ministers will discuss restrictive measures against Russia when they meet next week, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign-affairs chief Federica Mogherini, told reporters in Brussels.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone yesterday that insurgents are failing to honor the truce accord signed Sept. 5 in Minsk, Belarus, according to a statement on Poroshenkos website.
Rebels shelled government troops more than 30 times yesterday, leaving four soldiers wounded, Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for Ukraines military, said on Facebook. More than 1,000 troops have died and some 4,000 have been wounded, as of Oct. 11, since military operations began in April, according to Lysenko.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said its monitors yesterday saw a convoy of 43 unmarked military trucks move near the center of Donetsk, the biggest city in the conflict zone. Several of the vehicles were towing howitzers and multi-launch rocket systems, according to the OSCE.
We are certainly examining all reports that say weapons are being shipped into the region again, Merkel said. That certainly wouldnt contribute to stabilizing the situation.
Merkel said further economic penalties arent planned for now even as the EU is considering expanding sanctions on Russians to people associated with illegal elections in rebel-held areas of Ukraine. The blocs focus is on the humanitarian situation and actually getting a cease-fire, she said at a news conference in Berlin yesterday.
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Ukraine Says Rebels Massing Forces Amid Germanys Warning