Ukrainian military medics carried a wounded soldier to an ambulance in Avdiivka on Monday.Markiian Lyseiko/European Pressphoto Agency
MOSCOW — The war in eastern Ukraine that simmered quietly
for months has erupted in a lethal bout of fighting in recent days.
The violence, which killed at
least eight Ukrainian soldiers and three on the pro-Russian side, shifted the
front lines by only a few hundred yards in several spots, but potentially
complicates American efforts to improve relations with Russia.
The United States Army helps
to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers, who are fighting Russian-backed
separatists in two eastern provinces of Ukraine, in the only active war in
Europe today.
In the latest outbreak, the
sides vied for control of what are known as “gray zone” territories, areas
between the front lines that had previously been in buffer zones.
The Ukrainian Army advanced in
at least two places, according to news reports and official Ukrainian accounts,
but it said it did so to rebuff rebel attacks. Each side blamed the other for
the escalation.
Referring to one front-line
town, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Yuri Kasyanov, told Radio Free
Europe on Tuesday, “The defenders of Avdiivka preferred to advance the line” to
a more defensible position.
Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs
Ministry issued a statement appealing to Western
governments to intervene diplomatically.
“For the last two days, the
Russian occupation forces carried out massive attacks across the line,” firing
with rocket artillery, heavy mortars and other long-range weapons, the
statement said. European monitors reported heavy shelling of Avdiivka since Sunday.
Journalists who visited the
town reported evidence of a psychological warfare operation of a sophistication
that suggested Russian involvement. Cellphones in the town received text
messages addressed to Ukrainian soldiers, who often carry phones, saying, “You
are just meat to your commanders.”
The shelling disrupted
electrical and water supplies. The Ukrainian authorities set up heated shelters
for residents whose homes had been damaged, as nighttime temperatures dropped
to minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 28 Celsius).
“Given harsh weather
conditions and the continuing shelling by the militants, the humanitarian
situation in the area continues to deteriorate,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s
statement said. The authorities said they were preparing to evacuate the town’s
16,000 residents.
The rebel governments of the
Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, which are not recognized
internationally, issued a joint statement addressed to President Vladimir V.
Putin of Russia and President Trump that also called for a diplomatic solution.
The Trump administration’s
maneuvering for better relations with Russia has alarmed Ukrainian officials,
who fear that Western pressure could ease on Russia to withdraw its
unacknowledged military forces in eastern Ukraine. But Ukraine is not without
options in defending itself, including using its army, which showed an ability
to fight even before American training began.
Since the so-called line of
contact was initially negotiated in a cease-fire in September 2014, the
Ukrainian Army has in places given ground after separatist attacks. With its
recent advance, the army moved back into at least one such area, near Avdiivka,
without crossing the original cease-fire line, Mr. Kasyanov, the adviser to the
Interior Ministry, said.
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