Blast kills two in Ukraine city; rebels, army wrangle over truce

KHARKIV: A bomb killed two people during a pro-government march in the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv on Sunday, officials said, as Kiev’s army and rebels wrangled over a truce requiring them to pull back heavy weapons.
Tensions also rose around a new flashpoint, the port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea, with Kiev accusing Russia of trying to wrest it away through the deployment of several tanks. The Kharkiv blast tore through a “Dignity March” marking the one-year anniversary of the overthrow of the country’s former pro-Kremlin president, one of several that took place across Ukraine.
Regional prosecutor Yuri Danilchenko described it as a “homemade bomb packed with shrapnel, put in a plastic bag and hidden in snow by the side of the road.”
One of those killed was a police officer. Another 11 people were wounded. An AFP journalist saw the two bodies lying on the ground covered with Ukrainian flags.
A senior pro-Russian rebel commander said separatist forces were due to begin withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in east Ukraine on Sunday, a sign rebels may be prepared to halt their advance as part of an internationally brokered peace deal.
Fighting has eased in many areas since a ceasefire came into effect a week ago, but the truce was shaken by the rebel capture on Wednesday of the town of Debaltseve, forcing a retreat by thousands of Ukrainian troops.
But moves toward pulling back heavy weapons, together with the exchange of dozens of prisoners with Ukrainian government forces on Saturday, could indicate the rebels intend to observe the truce more fully, having achieved a key military objective by seizing Debaltseve.
Ukraine’s military and the rebels sought to salvage parts of the truce Sunday, agreeing to pull back heavy weapons from the frontline and swapping prisoners overnight.
But even those steps were fraught.
Within hours, the insurgents said the weapons withdrawal would only begin on Tuesday, after a couple of days of “preparation”. Kiev insisted that it was meant to start on Sunday with no delays.
And both sides said fighting continued near the port city of Mariupol, held by the army but becoming a new focus for fighting in the 10-month conflict that has killed more than 5,700 people.
Kiev said Russia had sent 20 tanks to near Mariupol. Defence spokesman Andriy Lysenko claimed there were “two tank attacks” reported early Sunday at the city, and ongoing fighting. Further breaches of the already tattered ceasefire could bring “serious” additional sanctions on Russia “within days,” the US has warned.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that “if this failure continues, make no mistake, there will be further consequences including consequences that will place added strains on Russia’s already troubled economy”.
EU president Donald Tusk, who participated in Kiev’s “Dignity March”, said he would “begin consultations on Monday to increase some of the measures in connection with the aggression” in Ukraine, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.