Ukraine Accuses Russia of ‘Terrorist Activity’ After Explosion

By Kateryna Choursina and Daryna Krasnolutska

Photographer: Alexander Ermochenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A Ukrainian man shows his building which was damaged during clashes between Ukrainian... Read More

Ukraine’s government accused Russia of “executing terrorist acts” on its territory following a bomb blast in the eastern city of Kharkiv that wounded 13 people.
Russia is engaging in “sabotage against peaceful civilians,” the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev said on its website late Monday. The government, whose forces are battling pro-Moscow separatists for control of the Donetsk Airport, said earlier that two battalions of Russian soldiers had crossed the border into Ukraine in rebel-held territory. Russia’s Defense Ministry declined to comment.
“Russia is continuing its war against Ukraine, and active terrorist activity on our territory is one of components of this war,” the Security Council said. “Another act
of terror was committed in Kharkiv, causing injuries.”
Fighting between the government and rebels intensified last week after a push to restart peace talks collapsed. Scores of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and wounded in the battle for the airport, and both sides accuse each other of reinforcing their positions in breach of a Sept. 5 truce signed in Minsk, Belarus.
Ukraine’s accusations against Russia follow months of complaints that President Vladimir Putin is sending funds, weapons and fighters to support a separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s easternmost regions. Putin denies any military involvement in Ukraine.

‘Unquestionable Proof’

“There is unquestionable proof that the Russian Federation has supplied men and equipment” to the rebels, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said yesterday at meeting with his polish counterpart in Kiev.
Russia’s ruble, undercut by a more than 50 percent decline in oil prices since a peak last year and U.S. and European Union sanctions for Putin’s March annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, fell 0.2 percent against the dollar to 65.145 at 11:39 a.m. in Moscow. After dropping more than 40 percent versus the greenback last year, the ruble has lost 6.8 percent in 2015, making it the world’s third worst-performing currency. Ukraine’s hryvnia was unchanged at 15.86.
The United Nations estimates that more than 4,800 people have died in the nine-month conflict, which has poisoned ties between Russia and its former Cold War foes.
With the nature of the fighting making it difficult to independently verify the claims made by either side, the government in Kiev has exchanged blame with the rebels and Russia for shelling that has killed civilians. The two sides have also disputed who is in control of Donetsk airport, casualty numbers, troop movements and other issues.

Airport Battle

The hundreds of Russian soldiers crossed the border in a rebel-controlled area, the Security and Defense Council said, without elaborating.
At the airport, government troops and rebels are fighting pitched battles in arrivals and departure halls that once featured restaurants and shops, transforming the terminals refurbished for the 2012 Euro Championship soccer tournament into smoking ruins. Separatists blew up part of a ceiling in the main terminal on Monday, causing “many injured” among government troops, Ukrainian presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov said on Facebook, without giving details.
The explosion in Kharkiv was near a district court, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said on Facebook on Monday. The blast followed explosions in Odessa, on the Black Sea coast, and a fire that engulfed a rail tank car carrying gasoline in Kharkiv region. In addition, nine passenger cars were damaged by an explosion in a residential area in Kiev.

Civilians Killed

Rebels shelled Ukrainian forces stationed near residential areas close to the airport overnight, the Security Council said in the statement, with the government troops firing back.
A 12-year-old boy and his father were killed by a rebel artillery strike in the town of Debaltseve on Monday. Another person also died and 12 were wounded, Vyacheslav Abroskin, head of the Donetsk region police, said on his Facebook account. Rebels said two people were killed and 16 wounded in Horlivka by shelling from Ukrainian government forces.
Russia and Ukraine have also traded accusations over obstructing peace talks after a plan for Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to meet last week in Astana, Kazakhstan was scrapped last week. Both sides say their offers for a cease-fire have been rejected.
Ukraine and its allies in the U.S. and EU say Russia isn’t meeting the terms of the September Minsk truce, including closing the border, withdrawing troops and weapons and using its influence on the insurgents to halt hostilities. Russia accuses the government in Kiev of reinforcing its positions and firing on civilians. EU governments opted on Monday to maintain economic sanctions on Russia as long as the conflict continues.