Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels clashed heavily for a third straight day at a flashpoint town Tuesday while thousands of locals remained without power after a deadly surge in fighting.
The industrial hub of Avdiivka came under attack on Sunday from insurgents seeking to wrest back territory controlled by Kiev during the nearly three-year war.
The clashes have claimed the lives of at least 13 civilians and fighters on both sides since Sunday in the worst outburst of violence since the two sides agreed a supposed truce in December.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko underscored the urgency of the situation by cutting short a visit to Berlin on Monday.
Poroshenko is worried that Donald Trump's rise to the US presidency and praise for Russia's Vladimir Putin may add fuel to a conflict that began shortly after Ukraine's 2014 ouster of its Moscow-backed leader and tilt toward the West.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the Kremlin was "extremely worried" but had "reliable information" that renegade units of pro-Kiev fighters -- and not the army itself -- were in fact responsible for the initial attacks.
An AFP reporter saw the separatists shell the town of about 20,000 people with repeated rounds of Grad multiple rocket systems and artillery fire from the early morning.
"Right now, there is no power. We have not resolved problems with heating homes, and the gas pipe has been shattered," a Ukrainian army brigade spokeswoman, Olena Mokrynchuk, told AFP.
The town's military administrator Freedon Vekua told AFP he was preparing for a possible evacuation of Avdiivka -- which sits just five kilometres (three miles) north of the rebels' de facto capital of Donetsk -- because of the power outage.
Ukraine is struggling through freezing conditions in which temperatures drop to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) at night and the homes in Avdiivka are in dire need of heating.
"The issue of an evacuation has not been decided fully. We see it as our very last resort because there is still a chance of restoring heating," said Vekua.
The town's heating is provided by a coke plant that has been heavily damaged by the falling shells.
Its director Musa Magomedov said it would be incredibly difficult to restart the gas-producing factory if its generators shut down.
That would leave Avdiivka without a source of local power and uncertainty about its future.
We are "very concerned for Avdiivka residents, especially the 2500 children who are without water, electricity and heat after power lines were cut," the US embassy in Ukraine tweeted.
Kiev and the rebels agreed to an "indefinite" ceasefire on December 23 -- the latest in a series of attempts to stop the the violence.
But as on previous occasions, the truce was never fully respected and a broader European-brokered peace plan remains stalled.
The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people -- more than half of them civilians -- and plunged Moscow's relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.
The Kremlin denies backing the insurgents and only admits that Russian "volunteers" and off-duty soldiers have entered the war zone of their own free will.
burs-is-zak/del/ric
Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels clashed heavily for a third straight day at a flashpoint town Tuesday while thousands of locals remained without power after a deadly surge in fighting.
The industrial hub of Avdiivka came under attack on Sunday from insurgents seeking to wrest back territory controlled by Kiev during the nearly three-year war.
The clashes have claimed the lives of at least 13 civilians and fighters on both sides since Sunday in the worst outburst of violence since the two sides agreed a supposed truce in December.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko underscored the urgency of the situation by cutting short a visit to Berlin on Monday.
Poroshenko is worried that Donald Trump’s rise to the US presidency and praise for Russia’s Vladimir Putin may add fuel to a conflict that began shortly after Ukraine’s 2014 ouster of its Moscow-backed leader and tilt toward the West.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the Kremlin was “extremely worried” but had “reliable information” that renegade units of pro-Kiev fighters — and not the army itself — were in fact responsible for the initial attacks.
An AFP reporter saw the separatists shell the town of about 20,000 people with repeated rounds of Grad multiple rocket systems and artillery fire from the early morning.
“Right now, there is no power. We have not resolved problems with heating homes, and the gas pipe has been shattered,” a Ukrainian army brigade spokeswoman, Olena Mokrynchuk, told AFP.
The town’s military administrator Freedon Vekua told AFP he was preparing for a possible evacuation of Avdiivka — which sits just five kilometres (three miles) north of the rebels’ de facto capital of Donetsk — because of the power outage.
Ukraine is struggling through freezing conditions in which temperatures drop to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) at night and the homes in Avdiivka are in dire need of heating.
“The issue of an evacuation has not been decided fully. We see it as our very last resort because there is still a chance of restoring heating,” said Vekua.
The town’s heating is provided by a coke plant that has been heavily damaged by the falling shells.
Its director Musa Magomedov said it would be incredibly difficult to restart the gas-producing factory if its generators shut down.
That would leave Avdiivka without a source of local power and uncertainty about its future.
We are “very concerned for Avdiivka residents, especially the 2500 children who are without water, electricity and heat after power lines were cut,” the US embassy in Ukraine tweeted.
Kiev and the rebels agreed to an “indefinite” ceasefire on December 23 — the latest in a series of attempts to stop the the violence.
But as on previous occasions, the truce was never fully respected and a broader European-brokered peace plan remains stalled.
The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people — more than half of them civilians — and plunged Moscow’s relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.
The Kremlin denies backing the insurgents and only admits that Russian “volunteers” and off-duty soldiers have entered the war zone of their own free will.
burs-is-zak/del/ric
