Ukraine Says Artillery Silence Needed for Weapon Pullback

By Aliaksandr Kudrytski

Photographer: Anatolii Boiko/AFP via Getty Images

A man stands in his house destroyed during recent shelling in the village of Peski in... Read More

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his troops will pull back heavy weaponry once pro-Russian rebels cease attacking enough for artillery to stay silent for at least a day, which he thinks may happen as early as today.
At least 18 people, including rebels, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed yesterday as separatists focused their attacks on the airport in Donetsk, the largest city in the battle area. Twelve rebels died during repeated attempts to storm the airport, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters yesterday. Two Ukrainian soldiers were also killed, he said.
“We must hold on for 24 hours without a
single artillery shot being fired,” Poroshenko said yesterday, according to Interfax news service. He said he’s “guardedly optimistic” that artillery silence may be achieved today or tomorrow.
First steps were taken to set up an international cease-fire monitoring commission in areas where the truce has reduced fighting, he said. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed at least 3,627 and wounded 8,446, the United Nations estimates. Russia denies all U.S., European and Ukrainian allegations that it’s supplying weapons to the rebels and has deployed troops, tanks and artillery to eastern Ukraine.

Boys Killed

The death toll also included two boys who died in Khartsyzsk after playing with an unexploded shell, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said on its website yesterday. Two more civilians were killed by shelling in Donetsk, where the situation remains “highly tense,” the city council said on its website yesterday.
An international commission representing Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe started its work in the port city of Mariupol yesterday, with its main task being to set up borders of the 30-kilometer (19-mile) wide demilitarized area between rebels and Ukrainian forces, Lysenko said.
Monitors were unable to start work elsewhere in the area, as the fighting hindered their efforts, he said.
The buffer zone, which will span 320 kilometers from Russia’s eastern border to the town of Novoazovsk on the Azov Sea, should also include the Donetsk airport and other locations still subject to fighting, Andrei Kelin, Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE, said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV on Oct. 3.

Drawing Map

The exact borders of the buffer zone are being “drawn on a map” now, which should be followed by a pullback of heavy artillery from the area and its patrolling, Kelin said.
A German humanitarian aid convoy of 100 trucks was heading to Ukraine and should reach it next week, Der Spiegel reported on its website yesterday.
Germany has advocated keeping sanctions on Russia, and a European Union envoy said Russia may face further sanctions if separatists seize more land in battle-torn eastern Ukraine.
“The EU wants sanctions to be lifted; however, I do not exclude that if things deteriorate significantly, the EU might be forced to come back and consider sanctions,” Vygaudas Usackas, the EU’s ambassador in Moscow, said in an interview on Oct. 3. “We have not reached the end of the possible measures.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said he supports the peace efforts, has shrugged off U.S. and EU sanctions as “idiocy” that harm the global economy but won’t sway his policies. The restrictions have driven Russia’s slowing economy to the brink of recession.
A week after the cease-fire started, the 28-member EU tightened sanctions on Russia in a coordinated move with the U.S. and has since decided to leave the measures in place. A further review is scheduled toward the end of this month after EU foreign ministers meet Oct. 20. It will depend on the implementation of the truce, Usackas said.