Some pro-Kiev troops pulling out of Debaltseve, say paramilitary units, as Moscow sharply criticised at UN

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The US has accused Russia of violating the ceasefire in Ukraine, amid reports that some Ukrainian troops are pulling out of the key strategic rail hub of Debaltseve.

The US joined other UN security council members in lining up to pour scorn on a resolution drafted by Moscow approving the truce.



Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, said it was “ironic to say the least” that Russia produced the motion at the same time as it was “backing an all-out assault” in Ukraine despite the ceasefire.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest US and Russian officials trade blows during a United Nations Security Council meeting

Commanders of pro-Kiev paramilitary units said on Wednesday morning that some pro-government forces were pulling out of Debaltseve, which has been under siege from Russia-backed separatists.

Associated Press reporters on the road to the government-controlled town of Artemivsk saw several dozen Ukrainian troops retreating with their weapons from Debaltseve.

The separatists said they had taken control of the town and offered Ukrainian troops the opportunity to surrender and abandon their weapons, a claim Ukraine denied.



Anatoliy Stelmakh, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said in a televised briefing on Wednesday that the rebels had launched five artillery strikes on Debaltseve overnight, “grossly violating the peace accords”.

On Tuesday, pro-Russia forces seized parts of Debaltseve in intense street fighting, ignoring the shaky ceasefire agreement, as a deadline for removing heavy weapons from the frontlines went unheeded.

Rebels were closing in on government soldiers who were trapped in bombed-out ruins and running out of food and supplies after more than a week under siege.

The size of Debaltseve – it was home toabout 25,000 people before the war emptied its streets – belies its importance to rebels as the site of a rail junction connecting their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukraine pro-Russia forces seize strategic Debaltseve railway hub despite truce Read more

Vladimir Putin sought to delay the ceasefire by 10 days because he wanted to give separatists time to capture the town, an EU summit was told last week.

The rebels have been trying to take the town for weeks, and on Tuesday Kiev’s forces appeared to be losing their grip on it.

“The railway station is partially under the control of the terrorist fighters,” said Ilya Kiva, the deputy head of Donetsk regional police. “Active fighting is going on inside the city, there’s essentially a struggle for every block and every street,” he told television channel 112 Ukraine.

Putin told Kiev to let its soldiers surrender to the pro-Russia rebels. “I hope that the responsible figures in the Ukrainian leadership will not hinder soldiers in the Ukrainian army from putting down their weapons,” the Russian president said.

Albert Sardaryen, a Ukrainian national guard medic in Debaltseve, told the Guardian on Tuesday that he had been trapped in the town since 5 February, when he turned up for a 12-hour shift and was not able to leave. The dead and injured are not allowed out, he said.

Pro-Russia forces were already in parts of the city and Sardaryen’s unit had exchanged close-quarters machine gun fire with rebels, he said, cutting the conversation short when mortar fire began landing nearby.

Joe Biden, the US vice-president, “strongly condemned” the violence and warned the “costs to Russia will rise” if it “continues to violate the Minsk agreements, including the most recent agreement signed on 12 February”.

The UN motion was passed on Tuesday night, with the support of the US, but a number of security council members condemned Russia’s stance. Shortly before the meeting the council issued a statement expressing “grave concern at the continued fighting in and around Debaltseve” and demanded that all parties to the conflict cease hostilities immediately.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ukraine confirms the Russian capture of Debaltseve.

Security council members have repeatedly accused Russia of backing the separatists in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies.



The British ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said there had been “flagrant disregard” for the ceasefire that started just after midnight on Sunday and called on Russia to “deliver on the promises it has made”.

Lyall Grant said the council, which has been deadlocked on Ukraine because of a possible veto by Russia, must play a full role in ensuring compliance with the ceasefire, including “willingness to take further steps in the event it is not implemented”.



The US blamed the violence on “separatist forces acting in concert with Russian forces”. Putin, however, said the conflict, in which more than 5,600 people have died, could not be solved by military means and urged Kiev’s troops to surrender.

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said in a phone conversation with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that the assault on Debaltseve was a “cynical attack” on the truce brokered last week by Germany and France.

He called for the EU and international community to take a “tough reaction against the treacherous actions of the rebels and Russia”.

Kiev and pro-Russia rebels agreed a peace roadmap on 12 February after marathon negotiations in Minsk involving the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.





Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report