Doubt about heavy weapons pull-back

Statements from both the Ukrainian armed forces and the pro-Russia separatists on Monday cast doubt on whether either side would actually with draw their heavy weapons from the frontline as set out in the agreement reached in Minsk last week.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko used a press conference in Kyiv to accuse the rebels of violating the truce by attacking government troops more than 100 times since it came into effect just after midnight on Sunday. This, he said, made it more difficult for the army to pull back its heavy weapons at midnight local time (2200 UTC) on Monday.

"The pre-condition for withdrawal of heavy weapons is fulfilling Point One of the Minsk agreements - the ceasefire," Ukrainian military spokesman Lyesnko said. "One hundred and twelve attacks are not an indicator of a ceasefire. At the moment we are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons."

The separatists, who have also accused government forces of breaching the ceasefire, responded by saying that they would only withdraw their heavy weapons, it the government did the same. The Interfax news agency cited rebel official Denis Pushilin as saying that the rebels were "only ready for a mutual withdrawal of equipment.

Heavy clashes around Debaltseve

Intense artillery exchanges were reported around the strategically significant town of Debaltseve on Monday, the only region where fighting didn't die down when the truce took effect. The town is still held by government troops but it is surrounded by rebels who have been trying to capture it for the past couple of weeks.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who along with French President Francois Hollande launched the diplomatic drive that resulted in the Minsk accord, expressed concern about the fighting there.

"The situation is fragile," the chancellor conceded. "(But) that was certainly to be expected with a view to Debaltseve. ... It was always clear that much remains to be done. And I have always said that there are no guarantees that what we are trying to do will succeed. It will be an extremely difficult path."

However, Yuri Ushakov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, seemed more optimistic, telling reporters in Moscow that the situation on the ground was developing "not badly," and that the Kremlin looked forward to the heavy weaponry being pulled back.

New EU sanctions

Ushakov also criticized a European Union move earlier on Monday, in which it extended the number of individuals slapped with travel bans and asset freezes by 19, while also adding nine entities to the list of those facing other sanctions.

"Sanctions are illegal," he said. "They prevent the solution of problems, I mean Ukrainian problems, and hinder the development of relations between the European Union and Russia."

More than 5,300 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes since the fighting between the pro-Russian separatists and government forces broke out in eastern Ukraine 10 months ago.

pfd/msh (Reuters, AP, dpa, AFP)