Ukraine blames delay heavy weapons pullback on rebel attacks
Ukraine delayed a promised pullback of heavy weapons from
the front line Monday in eastern Ukraine, blaming continuing attacks from
separatist rebels.
Under a peace agreement reached February 12, both sides are
to withdraw their heavy weapons 25 to 70 kilometers (16 to 44 miles) back to
create a buffer zone, reports AP.
Ukrainian officials said Sunday they were planning to
start.
However, military spokesman Lt. Col. Anatoliy Stelmakh told
reporters the moves will not begin until rebel attacks entirely stop, in line
with a cease-fire that was supposed to begin February 15.
Stelmakh said there were two rebel artillery attacks
overnight and although this is significantly fewer than in previous days,
"as long as firing on Ukrainian military positions continues, it's not
possible to talk about a pullback."
Col. Valentyn Fedichev, deputy commander of the military
operation against the rebels, said there had been 27 attacks against Ukrainian
forces over the past 24 hours, which he said was lower than in recent days. He
also indicated that no pullback was imminent.
"If the enemies continue to use their own heavy
weapons, it is clear that Ukraine will continue to counteract these
operations," he said.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
observer mission in Ukraine is supposed to be monitoring the weapons
withdrawal. Its spokesman, Michael Bocuirkiw, told the AP on Monday the
monitors had seen heavy weapons movements by both sides but could not tell
whether weapons were being pulled back or just being redeployed.
An Associated Press reporter on Monday saw Ukrainian forces
moving back from around the town of Debaltseve, which was captured last week by
rebel forces after a fierce weekslong siege.
Both Stelmakh and Fedichev said rebels are still trying to
overrun a Ukrainian government position in the village of Shyrokyne, on the
outskirts of the strategic port city of Mariupol.
Rebels began moving toward Mariupol last August, raising
concerns they were seeking to seize the city in order to establish a land
corridor between mainland Russia and the Russia-annexed Crimean peninsula.
Russia has denied arming the rebels, a denial scoffed at by
Western nations and North Atlantic Trery Organisation, NATO, who point to
satellite pictures of Russian weapons in Ukraine.
Comments
Post a Comment