Kiev: Ukraine vowed yesterday to use all weapons at its disposal to withstand an alleged new pro-Russian rebel advance that added urgency to a goodwill visit by Britain’s defence secretary.
Kiev accused the eastern separatist fighters of launching another missile assault north of Mariupol — a government-held port that provides a land bridge between rebel territories and the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.
“We will use our entire arsenal and all the means at our disposal to beat back the enemy’s assault,” Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said. “We cannot risk the lives of our soldiers,” said the top Kiev army representative. “The rebels used to launch Grad missile attacks on a rare occasion. Now, it is an everyday occurence.”
The militias accused Kiev’s pro-Western forces of being responsible for the latest flareup along east Urkaine’s 500km front.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in May that Kiev’s fighting contingent in the war zone included 50,000 soldiers and volunteers. The rebels have not revealed the size of their fighting force. They have joined Moscow in firmly denying Poroshenko’s claim that up to 9,000 Russian special forces are backing the separatists.
British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon met Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev yesterday before travelling to the nationalist west of the former Soviet country. “We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the face of Russian aggression, in the face of Russian-directed insurgency and in the face of Russian-inspired terrorism,” Fallon said in comments dubbed over into Ukrainian by Kiev TV.
AFP
