Ukraine separatists dig in despite deal
Pro-Russian rebels defiantly kept their grip on nearly a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine yesterday, refusing to abide by an international deal to ease tensions unless the Western-backed government in Kiev steps down first.
The refusal to budge came only hours after an unexpected diplomatic breakthrough Thursday worked out between Kiev, Moscow, Washington and Brussels following talks in Geneva to defuse the deepest East-West crisis since the Cold War.
If the hard-won agreement collapses -- as Western and Ukrainian leaders fear it might -- the United States has said it will quickly increase sanctions on Russia, which it holds responsible for supporting the separatists and stoking the crisis.
The surprise agreement hammered out in Geneva called for "all illegal armed groups" to disarm and leave seized state buildings and squares. In return they would benefit from an amnesty for actions over the past two weeks that brought Ukraine to the brink of civil war.
But in the main eastern city of Donetsk, where rebel gunmen wearing ski-masks still occupied a barricaded government building, there was defiance, with the Russian national anthem blared out through speakers. In nearby Slavyansk, insurgents remained defiant, holed up inside a seized police station with six armoured personnel carriers captured from the Ukrainian army on Wednesday still parked on the streets.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya suggested the authorities would hold off temporarily from any more military action on the ground to give the agreement time to take.
The Ukrainian government and many Western states strongly believe the occupations took place with the active support of elite Russian military units, allegations Moscow has denied.
Leaders also cautioned the deal could fail with US President Barack Obama, who has locked horns with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine's future, expressing doubts that Moscow will deliver.
Obama warned that if there was no progress in days, "additional consequences" would be imposed on Russia on top of sanctions the United States and European Union have already imposed on Putin's inner circle.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday said the United States will send helmets, medical supplies and other non-lethal military aid to Ukraine.
The aid includes medical supplies, helmets, sleeping mats and water purification units for Ukrainian troops, as well as shelters, small power generators and hand fuel pumps for Ukraine's border security force. But it does not appear to contain any combat equipment, such as bulletproof vests or night-vision goggles.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliament on Friday he also had "no high hopes" of the deal holding.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the situation "remains extremely volatile" and he now expected all sides to "show their serious intention" to implement the agreement.
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