BackUkraine pursues assault on insurgents after 23 soldiers killed
As violence escalated, the EU added 11 names to a list it has sanctioned for supporting Ukraine insurrection
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Kiev: Ukraine’s armed forces pushed ahead with their operation against pro-Russian insurgents after 23 soldiers died in an attack on Friday, the biggest death toll since President Petro Poroshenko called off a cease-fire 1 July.
“For every life of one of our soldiers, the militants will pay with dozens and hundreds of theirs," Poroshenko said in Kiev on Friday after the fighting near Ukraine’s frontier with Russia, in which 93 soldiers were also wounded. “Every single one will be held accountable and get their due," he added.
Fighting continued overnight, with seven soldiers killed and 33 hurt in about 10 mortar and rocket attacks, according to the Facebook page of the government’s operation against the separatists.
“Air-defence units and fighter planes were on high alert to counter the threat of more Grad rockets from the area of the Russian border," military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said on Facebook.
As the violence escalated, the European Union added 11 names to a list of people it has sanctioned for supporting the insurrection in Ukraine, including leaders of the self-declared People’s Republics in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Among those hit by previous measures are members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Russia denies it’s aiding the rebels.
‘Heavy losses’
“The insurgents suffered heavy losses in fighting on Friday," Seleznyov said on Facebook late last night, with the air force destroying two mortar batteries, two tanks and three armoured personnel carriers. “The army wiped out a rebel base at the Izvaryno border post in Luhansk region," he said.
The rebels said shelling by Ukrainian artillery of the Donetsk suburb of Maryinka killed 30 civilians, the Interfax news service reported, citing a separatist commander, Igor Girkin.
“Fighting was continuing on Saturday at Zelenopillya in the Luhansk region, near a point on the border where insurgents were attempting to bring in weapons from Russia, another military spokesman," Andriy Lysenko, was cited as saying by Interfax.
“Ukraine uncovered evidence of Russian-made mortars being taken across the border and set up for firing by units that entered from Russia," Seleznyov said in a statement on Friday. Rocket attacks from the direction of the border took place overnight, the military said.
Border protest
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Friday it protested to Russia about outrageous violations of the border. “These included shooting at a border post overnight from the Rostov region in Russia and the use of Russian drones in Ukrainian airspace," it said in an e-mailed statement.
The European Union (EU) published the names on Saturday of the 11 new people it’s sanctioning with asset freezes and travel bans over the insurgency. They include Alexander Borodai, the Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and his equivalent in Luhansk, Marat Bashirov.
The 28-nation bloc has already blacklisted 72 people and two companies connected with the destabilization of Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March.
The EU’s first opportunity to consider wider penalties on Russian industry, investment or trade will be at a 16 July summit. Objections by countries such as Italy, Austria, Slovakia, France and Greece have frustrated moves toward broader sanctions, which require unanimity.
The insurgents are now preparing for a siege in Donetsk, where they said they may have to evacuate 100,000 civilians. “An average of 1,200 people are streaming out of the conflict zone every day," Ukraine’s Ministry of Regional Development said. Bloomberg
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