Prime
minister to chair discussions on OSCE peace proposals day after six Ukrainian
soldiers killed in rebel ambush
 |
| Russian flags on a barricade in Donetsk: six soldiers were killed and eight wounded during an ambush near Kramatorsk on Tuesday. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images |
The
Ukrainian government has agreed to launch discussions on giving more powers to
the regions under a peace plan brokered by the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – a roadmap backed by Moscow but regarded with
scepticism by Kiev.
Ukraine's
prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is to chair the first in a series of
meetings that will include national MPs, government figures and regional
officials in line with proposals drafted by the OSCE – a transatlantic security
and rights group that includes Russia and the US.
A solution
to the crisis in east Ukraine had seemed remote on Tuesday, when six Ukrainian
army servicemen were killed in an ambush by rebels and attempts to get Kiev and
the armed separatists to negotiate came to nothing.
Ukraine's
defence ministry released a statement saying six of its soldiers had been
killed and a further eight wounded during an ambush outside the town of
Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region. The attackers used grenade launchers and
automatic weapons to fire at the Ukrainian column, hitting an armoured
personnel carrier.
More than
50 people have died in Donetsk since Kiev began its "anti-terrorism
operation" in the area, but Tuesday's attack represents the largest loss
of life for the Ukrainian army in a single incident.
The de
facto separatist government in Donetsk repeated on Tuesday lunchtime that the
Ukrainian army was considered to be an "occupying force", and the
ambush appeared to be a bloody restatement of their case.
The
"Donetsk People's Republic" was proclaimed on Monday, after a hastily
arranged referendum resulted in nearly 90% of votes in favour of state
sovereignty. Critics have pointed out that there were no observers and that
most of those who remain loyal to Kiev simply stayed at home. Nevertheless, the
region announced independence and immediately appealed to Russia to accept it
as a new region.
The
Ukrainian government and western powers have rejected the referendum as a sham.
In Brussels
on Tuesday, Yatsenyuk thanked the OSCE for its plan but said Ukraine had its
own proposals for ending the crisis and that the people of his country should
settle the issue themselves. He disclosed no details of that plan.
The
self-proclaimed Donetsk republic took its first tentative steps on the
international stage on Tuesday, imposing sanctions on three individuals – the
US president, Barack Obama, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel and the EU
foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton – who are banned from entering the
territory as well as flying over it. The reason given is that they support the
Kiev government's operation's against armed separatists in the east of the
country.
In a
document, the separatists also gave David Cameron a sharp warning, saying:
"PS British prime minister David Cameron is on a provisional list (without
the sanctions being enforced in practice) and is advised to think carefully
about his attitude to the Kiev junta, especially given the traditional good
relations between Britain and the Donbas region."
Donetsk was
founded by a Welshman, John Hughes, in the 1870s, and for a time the city even
bore his name.
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