Ukraine's President Unveils Peace Plan; Clashes Continue
by VOA News June 20, 2014
Ukraine's new president unveiled a sweeping 14-point peace plan Friday designed to quell the violence in the restive east, as the government reported the deaths of seven soldiers and Russia resumed building up troops near the border.
President Petro Poroshenko's peace plan calls for a unilateral cease-fire that would give rebels a chance to disarm or leave the country. It also calls for creation of a 10-kilometer buffer zone along the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The peace plan's release followed two phone calls by Poroshenko to Russian President Vladimir Putin over 72 hours, according to the French news agency AFP. It reported Poroshenko sought to shore up the Kremlin's support for a truce in the fighting, which over 10 weeks has killed at least 365 combatants and civilians on both sides.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government says fresh chaos erupted in the volatile eastern region Friday after seven soldiers were killed in fighting late Thursday.
Also, Ukrainian security officials said 300 rebels had been killed in clashes in the Donetsk region since Thursday, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.
Russian troop buildup
In another development, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a deployment of Russian forces along the Ukrainian border had been planned in advance and was designed to reinforce Russia's border security.
He commented on Friday, a day after NATO said Russia had resumed a troop build-up on the border.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said 'at least a few thousand more' Russian troops had been deployed to the region. He called the move a 'very regrettable step backwards.'
A NATO military officer who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity told VOA, 'These troops don't appear to be engaged in border-patrol duties. Rather, they appear to be concentrating in staging areas and preparing and awaiting future orders.'
Earlier in the conflict, up to 40,000 Russian troops had been deployed near the border with Ukraine, but NATO reported last month that they had been withdrawn from the area.
U.S. expands sanctions list
Also Friday, the United States added seven pro-Russia separatist leaders to its list of people subject to sanctions over the rebellion in Ukraine, the Treasury Department announced.
The individuals include:
- Valery Bolotov, self-described governor of the separatist-controlled Luhansk region;
- Igor Girkin, so-called defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic;
- Valery Kaurov, an Odessa protest leader and 'president of Novorossiya' or New Russia;
- Sergei Menyailo, a former Russian military officer and acting governor of Sevastopol, a port city in the Russian-annexed Crimea Peninsula;
- Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, whose assorted titles include the former self-proclaimed 'people's mayor' of the town of Slovyansk;
- Andrey Purgin, a leader of the council running Donetsk's separatist government;
- Denis Pushilin, a leader of the Donetsk People's Republic.
In spring, the U.S. government announced a series of sanctions aimed at business leaders and companies close to Putin.
Signing date set for EU agreement
Poroshenko announced Thursday that he would sign an association agreement with the European Union on June 27.
The refusal by Ukraine's former pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, to sign the EU association agreement last November triggered the unrest that led to his ouster earlier this year.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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