- Title: UKRAINE: Donetsk separatists reject truce, ready to counter-attack
- Date: 3rd July 2014
- Summary: DONETSK, UKRAINE (JULY 3, 2014) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO DONETSK REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING OCCUPIED BY PRO-RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS PEOPLE NEAR ENTRANCE FLAG OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC ABOVE ENTRANCE EXTERIOR OF DONETSK REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING OCCUPIED BY PRO-RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRO-RUSSIAN REBEL ARTEM ARKHIN, SAYING: "Nobody will lay down their arms unilaterally. I think there is no any logic in that. To talk about any truce, even to say the very word "truce" is acceptable only when the forces of the punitive operation are withdrawn from the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics." FLOWERS IN PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRO-RUSSIAN REBEL ARTEM ARKHIN, SAYING: "Peace is very much needed though. Bombardments of the civilian population should stop. This horror should of course stop anyhow. On another hand though, we have enough strenghth to launch a counter-offensive. Our soldiers, our rebels have a very high fighting spirit. I see it from inside, I know it." STREET CLEANERS IN PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRO-RUSSIAN REBEL ARTEM ARKHIN, SAYING: "Personally I don't like killing people from Kiev or Lviv. And I would very much like for this to stop. I mean it. But to lay down our arms unilaterally just doesn't make any sense. Therefore, we count on diplomats of the Russian Federation to work out acceptable conditions, because we want peace." PEOPLE ON STREET TRAFFIC ON STREET
- Embargoed: 18th July 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA760CDODAMUV714YDG6O7MNLIK
- Story Text: Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk rejected on Thursday (July 3) any notion of the ceasefire with the Ukrainian forces or any demand for them to lay down their arms.
In Berlin on Wednesday (July 2) the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, after talks with German and French ministers, supported a further meeting of a "contact group" involving separatist leaders and aimed at trying to work out conditions for a more lasting ceasefire.
The group includes a former president of Ukraine, who is informally representing Kiev, Moscow's ambassador to Kiev and a high-ranking official from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The group should meet "no later than July 5th with the goal of reaching an unconditional and mutually agreed sustainable ceasefire", said a document agreed by all four ministers.
"Nobody will lay down their arms unilaterally. I think there is no any logic in that. To talk about any truce, even to say the very word "truce" is acceptable only when the forces of the punitive operation are withdrawn from the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics," said one of pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk, Artem Arkhin.
On Monday (June 30) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected a new ceasefire and ordered to resume a full offensive against the separatists in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine who have set up "people's republics" and said they want to join Russia.
"Peace is very much needed though. Bombardments of the civilian population should stop. This horror should of course stop anyhow. On another hand though, we have enough strenghth to launch a counter-offensive. Our soldiers, our rebels have a very high fighting spirit. I see it from inside, I know it," Artem Arkhin said.
"Personally I don't like killing people from Kiev or Lviv. And I would very much like for this to stop. I mean it. But to lay down our arms unilaterally just doesn't make any sense. Therefore, we count on diplomats of the Russian Federation to work out acceptable conditions, because we want peace," he added.
In overnight violence, one Ukrainian soldier was killed when rebels approached in a car bearing a white flag and then opened fire, a military spokesman, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky, said.
The border service also said nine border guards were wounded in a rebel mortar attack on their post in Luhansk region on the border with Russia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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