Ukraine president says cease-fire near

But questions remain over Moscow’s ability to get rebels to lay down arms

A pro-Russia fighter approaches government forces in the eastern town of Karlivka during a brief truce in which the rebels turned over the bodies of 49 Ukrainian troops killed when a plane was shot down last week near Luhansk.
A pro-Russia fighter approaches government forces in the eastern town of Karlivka during a brief truce in which the rebels turned over the bodies of 49 Ukrainian troops killed when a plane was shot down last week near Luhansk.

KIEV, Ukraine -- The president of Ukraine promised Wednesday that government troops would soon stop firing on pro-Russia armed separatists, offering a chance to end fighting that has killed hundreds in the industrial east.

In another concession to Moscow, Petro Poroshenko replaced his foreign minister, who had angered Russians by using an obscenity to describe President Vladimir Putin.

An end to the two months of fighting and a promised safe exit for rebels would allow Putin to say Russia has fulfilled its goal of protecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, while Poroshenko can claim victory over the rebellion.

The Ukrainian president discussed his plan for a unilateral cease-fire in a phone call with Putin late Tuesday, their offices said, and Poroshenko also spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

One key question is whether Moscow is willing and able to persuade the pro-Russia insurgents to accept Poroshenko's plan. Some of the rebel leaders visited Moscow this week to meet with senior officials and lawmakers. Russia has denied Ukrainian and Western claims that it has fomented the insurgency by sending troops and weapons, insisting that Russian citizens among the rebels are volunteers.

Ukraine and the rebels managed to arrange a brief truce Wednesday evening in the eastern town of Karlivka to allow pro-Russia forces to hand over the bodies of 49 Ukrainian troops who died when the separatists shot down a military transport plane bound for the airport in Luhansk last weekend.

But after the truck carrying the remains had passed to the Ukrainian side, both sides fell back to their respective positions. A pro-Russia fighter, whose face was covered with a bandanna and identified himself only by his pseudonym, Sova, said the cease-fire was over. "The war will go on until we win," he said.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic called Poroshenko's cease-fire announcement "a timely initiative." But he stressed that it was "a real challenge" because United Nations human-rights monitors in eastern Ukraine believe there are at least three distinct armed groups that don't fully coordinate.

"This may represent a problem because some of them might be adhering to cease-fires, some not," Simonovic told the International Peace Institute in New York.

If successful, the plan could help ease the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, a situation triggered by Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russia president.

Poroshenko didn't say when the cease-fire could be declared, but the defense minister, Mykhailo Koval, was quoted as saying it could begin "within days."

"The plan will begin with my order for a unilateral cease-fire," Poroshenko said. "I can say that the period of the cease-fire will be rather short. We anticipate that immediately after this the disarming of the illegal military formations will take place."

He has said separatists who lay down their weapons and haven't committed grave crimes would be granted amnesty and a corridor to leave the country if they chose to do so.

Denis Pushilin, an insurgent leader in Donetsk, told Russian independent Dozhd television that Poroshenko's latest offer was "senseless."

"They cease fire, we lay down weapons, and then they will capture us weaponless," he said.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes in rising violence, insecurity and crime in areas of eastern Ukraine that are under the control of the pro-Russian armed groups, the U.N. said Wednesday.

A total of 356 people were known to have been killed since mid-April, Gianni Magazzeni, a senior U.N. human-rights official, said in Geneva as he presented the latest in a series of monthly reports by the U.N. team of 34 monitors in Ukraine.

The dead included 257 civilians and 86 Ukrainian military personnel, including the 49 killed last week, Magazzeni said. The report did not offer additional detail about the other 13 deaths.

For Ukraine, an end to hostilities in the east is essential as it tries to shore up its economy, which is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. It's also key to mending the rift between the eastern regions, where most residents want close ties with Russia, and the west, where the majority wants a quick integration into Europe.

It would not end Russian pressure on Ukraine. Russia's state-owned Gazprom has cut off gas supplies in a dispute over prices and debts.

Moscow says it is waiting for Kiev to pay at least $1.9 billion of its $4.5 billion debt before talks about prices and paying off the debt and can continue. Gazprom said Monday that deliveries to Ukraine would have to resume by mid-October to ensure the country has enough reserves for the winter.

Meanwhile, an explosion occurred at a pipeline in Ukraine that carries gas to Europe. Gazprom said Wednesday that the blast had not disrupted the flow of gas to Europe.

The explosion occurred far from where the fighting is taking place. Ukraine's energy ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the ministry believes "the blast was caused by sabotage" intended to discredit Ukraine as a transit country. The ministry did not provide any further evidence to support the claim.

Information for this article was contributed by David McHugh, Marko Drobnjakovic, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Vladimir Isachenkov, Edith Lederer, John Heilprin, Frank Jordans and Alon Bernstein of The Associated Press and by Nick Cumming-Bruce of The New York Times.

A Section on 06/19/2014

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