European leaders seek to relaunch Ukraine truce

European leaders have sought to relaunch a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, despite continued fighting between Kiev’s forces and Kremlin-backed insurgents.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France spoke yesterday by telephone to discuss the truce agreed in Minsk, Belarus, as Kiev said the last of its free soldiers had pulled out of the now rebel-held town of Debaltseve. Ukrainian officials said 13 servicemen were killed, 157 wounded and 93 captured during the withdrawal, and 82 soldiers were still missing after a retreat that appeared chaotic despite Kiev calling it a well-organised operation.

Days of fierce fighting for Debaltseve, a major road and rail junction between the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, made a mockery of a ceasefire that was supposed to have started last Saturday night.

But with the European Union split over whether to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, Moscow keen to avoid further punishment, and Ukraine weak and unstable, the four leaders who agreed the deal resolved to give it another try.

Standing by Minsk agreement

The office of German chancellor Angela Merkel said the leaders had “confirmed their will to stand by the Minsk agreements, in spite of the serious breach of the ceasefire in . . . Debaltseve. They agreed that concrete steps must be taken directly to fully implement the truce. Heavy weapons must also be withdrawn, with OSCE [Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe] observers monitoring the procedure. They also urged that the exchange of detainees must now begin.”

Observers from the 57-state OSCE have so far been unable to enter Debaltseve and have noted the continued shelling in other contested parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Shirokine, near the strategic government-held port of Mariupol, has suffered repeated heavy clashes.

Russian president Vladimir Putin was said to have promised to use his influence over separatists to encourage implementation of a deal that Kiev has warned could be a last chance to avert an even broader conflict in Ukraine, and possibly the region.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called for deployment of an EU police mission to help monitor the ceasefire and stabilise eastern regions, but the rebels and Russia immediately rejected this proposal, saying it was not discussed in Minsk.

Peacekeeping mission

The separatists suggested they might back a peacekeeping mission with Russian involvement, but with Moscow supplying weapons to the rebels and allegedly reinforcing them with regular troops, Kiev called this unacceptable.

“We view the future mission of the European Union in the framework of the joint security and defence policy as the best option for a peacekeeping operation,” Mr Poroshenko said.

“At the same time I would like to underscore that Russia, as aggressor, cannot and will not take part in this peacekeeping operation.”

While Ukraine’s closest allies, such as Lithuania, said Kiev’s peacekeeping proposal deserved consideration, major European states showed no public interest in a plan that would deepen their involvement in a major dispute with Russia.

After Britain scrambled fighter jets off Cornwall on Wednesday to usher away Russian “Bear” bombers – planes that also entered Irish air space – the British defence secretary Michael Fallon said he was “worried about Putin . . . I’m worried about his pressure on the Baltics, the way he is testing Nato. Nato has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes.”