As a new cease-fire was announced on Aug. 26, residents in certain parts of eastern Ukraine were forced to hide in their basements amid intensified shelling.
While international monitors and leaders of Ukraine and Russia patted themselves on the backs in Minsk yet another promised halt to the war – this one to start on Sept. 1 – the fighting on the ground intensified. The violence left seven Ukrainian soldiers dead, 13 wounded and homes on fire.
“Ukraine has become a hostage in a political game,” said Vitaly Bala of the Situations Modeling Agency think tank. “It has become absurd to even comment on this latest supposed cease-fire.”
According to Bala, the only way to prevent a repeat of a catastrophe like the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 – which claimed 298 lives – is for the entire world to confront Russian aggression and come together to stop it.
But Western leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are more worried about their political ratings at home than ending the war in Ukraine, he said.
“They took responsibility for the Feb. 12 Minsk agreement, so if they have to admit that the ceasefire failed, it would mean their political defeat,” he said, adding that they are “more concerned about winning the next election.”
The latest cease-fire agreed between Kremlin-backed separatists and Ukrainian officials came even as the cease-fire that was already meant to be in effect was being violated.
“It pisses us off. This is the separatists playing dirty tricks. They shelled us repeatedly and then would demand a ceasefire, which we’d grant, only for them to attack again. They had the nerve to do this throughout the entire night. They do this so we won’t return fire when they provoke us and they can just attack us over and over again,” said Yaroslav Chepurnoi, the military press officer for the area surrounding Mariupol.
A Russian-backed fighter passes the charred debris of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 18, 2014. (Anastasia Vlasova)
Chepurnoi’s area came under heavy fire on Aug., 26, as did Ukrainian positions in six different villages near Mariupol: Starognatovka, Novoselovok Vtoroi, Chermalyk, Prokhorovka, Orlovskoye and Lebedinskoye.
Fighting continued from 4 p.m. on Aug. 26 until 6 a.m. on Aug. 27, he said. Battles broke out along most of the front line, from Starognativka near Mariupol in the south to Troitskoye further north, near Artemivsk.
A Ukrainian military checkpoint in Volnovakha was also shelled, forcing soldiers to quickly allow all the waiting vehicles through without checks for fear of further civilian casualties.
“The separatists are doing everything they can to destroy the Minsk agreements. They aren’t fulfilling any of it, although the Ukrainian side is killing itself to abide by the deal,” Chepurnoi said.
The infuriating dissonance between the meaningless assurances uttered in Minsk and what is actually happening on the ground in Ukraine is nothing new. Those observing the conflict closely will recognize that this follows the same pattern that earlier spikes in violence have – always coming during or immediately after peace negotiations, always offering increasingly empty promises of a “full cease-fire.”
“Russia has set a trap for us. Initially, while the Minsk agreements did help to calm the fighting a bit, Russia used the deal as leverage to gain legitimacy for the separatists in occupied territories and force Ukraine to the negotiating table,” Bala said.
Leaders are viewing the situation in the wrong way, he said.
“They’re looking at the crisis as if it is just about resolving the conflict in Donbass, when in actuality the situation in Donbass is a result of Russia’s aggression against the entire world,” he said.
Another part of the Minsk agreements – the prisoner exchange – was nearly derailed amid the increased attacks.
According to journalist Timur Olevskiy, who was present for the prisoner exchange, negotiators for the Ukrainian Defense Minister came under heavy fire while trying to hand over the prisoners promised to the separatist side.
“At the checkpoint in Kurakhovo they’re still shooting at each other. (Defense Ministry negotiator Vasily) Budik calls the other side, asks for them to secure safe passage. During the prisoner exchange at the other checkpoint, the shelling will not stop: artillery fire from Donetsk separatists, and the Ukrainian side returning fire,” Olevskiy wrote in a liveblog documenting the exchange.
Ukraine kept its word in the exchange and handed over 12 prisoners, Olevskiy said, but the separatists sent only 11 Ukrainians to Kyiv.
Budik could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.
Earlier in August, the Security Service of Ukraine said 177 Ukrainians remained in captivity in occupied territories – 60 of them civilians. Another 30 are believed to be in custody on Russian territory.
Bala expressed frustration that world leaders seemed so blind to the obvious.
“This is just getting ridiculous. Russian aggression is a threat to the entire world right now, not just Ukraine. So Ukraine shouldn’t have to stand alone in confronting it,” he said.
Staff writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
