Ukraine’s president appeared poised last night to extend a fraught ceasefire with pro-Moscow rebels until Monday, despite continued fighting in eastern regions partly controlled by separatists who want to join Russia.
Petro Poroshenko said he would discuss an extension with security officials when he returned to Kiev from Brussels yesterday evening, and the ceasefire in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces was due to expire at 10pm local time.
Earlier, EU leaders threatened to take action against Russia unless, by Monday, Ukraine’s rebels relinquish border posts they control, accept a ceasefire monitoring arrangement, release hostages and enter substantive talks on implementing Mr Poroshenko’s peace plan.
The EU and US say they are ready to extend sanctions against Russia if it fails to use its influence with the rebels to de-escalate Ukraine’s crisis.
"The most important thing is to secure a long-term ceasefire as a necessary condition for substantive talks between the authorities in Kiev and representatives of the southeastern regions," Russian president Vladimir Putin said yesterday. "We are sincerely striving to help the peace process."
Moscow denies helping the separatists, but fighters and weapons from Russia have flowed across the porous border with Ukraine, and the rebels have used advanced arms including tanks and anti-aircraft missiles against Kiev’s forces. At least two of the insurgents’ top leaders are Muscovites.
One of them, political consultant Alexander Borodai – who calls himself the prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic – said the rebels were ready to observe a supposed ceasefire until Monday if government forces did the same. But he also insisted that full negotiations with the government "can only begin after all armed groups under Kiev's command have left the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics".
Mr Poroshenko will not countenance such a demand, amid intense public anger in much of Ukraine at the government’s handling of the crisis, Russia’s perceived role in it, and the rebels’ actions: they have killed at least 20 servicemen during the so-called ceasefire, according to officials.
Mr Borodai also insisted that the rebels retain control of two border crossings with Russia, at Izvarino and Dolzhansky, and invited observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to monitor the posts. He demanded, furthermore, that any prisoner exchange take place on an “all-for-all” basis.
He said the rebels had made a list of people they were holding, and expected to see an equivalent list of prisoners detained by government forces.
“Ukrainian security services are holding about 500 of our people prisoner,” Mr Borodai claimed.
The UN estimates that more than 400 people have been killed during fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk, and some 110,000 people have fled to Russia to escape the violence. A further 54,000 or so people have left their homes but stayed in Ukraine, including about 12,000 from Crimea, which Russian annexed in March.
