Andrew E. Kramer and Andrew Roth
New York Times
August 29, 2014
Ukraine Rebels Advance on Key Port, in Hint at Putin’s Strategy
NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine — Backed by Russian troops and weaponry, hundreds of Ukrainian rebel militiamen mobilized on Friday in this southeastern town, vacated by the Ukrainian military two days ago, and began to push toward the strategic seaport of Mariupol 27 miles away. The leader of the rebels called the advance a broad new effort to wrest control of a wide swath of coastal territory from the central government.
The militiamen flew the flag of “Novorossiya,” or New Russia, a reference to Russia’s historical claims over the southeastern area of Ukraine that encompasses the rebellious Donetsk and Luhansk regions under siege by the Ukrainian Army.
Their thrust toward Mariupol, the biggest city in the southeast, was the most prominent evidence that the insurgency in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia has been given a new infusion of vitality by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. It came as Mr. Putin directly addressed the insurgents for the first time on Friday in a message posted on his website in which he called them the fighters of Novorossiya.
The developments offered new insights into the strategy of Mr. Putin, who has supported the rebels in defiance of the United States and its Western allies as part of a broader effort to keep Ukraine within Russia’s sphere of influence. The rebel advance along the southeastern coast suggested that Mr. Putin may be establishing the basis for a more independent eastern Ukraine, or for an overland route from Russia to Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed five months ago.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of increasingly brazen military aggression, sending troops, tanks and other weapons across the border to support the rebels. The Kremlin has denied the accusations and asserted that any Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are volunteers on vacation.
A takeover of Mariupol, an industrial city of 450,000, would go a long way toward helping the separatists gain control over land that would connect Russia to Crimea.
“We plan to take Mariupol,” said a commander of the rebels in Novoazovsk, who identified himself by his nickname, Svet. “Now we are fighting for the southeast of Ukraine for Novorossiya.”
Journalists who visited Mariupol earlier Friday saw Ukrainian workers digging trenches with backhoes and building defensive positions in anticipation of an assault. Civilian residents, household belongings piled into their cars, were leaving.
While Ukrainian militiamen manned Novoazovsk checkpoints, evidence of a Russian presence was abundant, including unmarked Russian military vehicles with no license plates. A soldier on a truck greeted journalists and shouted in English: “Back in the U.S.S.R.!”
A cashier at a Novoazovsk grocery store said Russian soldiers had purchased sausages and cigarettes earlier. Asked how she knew they were Russian soldiers, the cashier, who identified herself as Olga, snapped: “You think I’ve only lived one day?”
Mr. Putin, who resurrected the Novorossiya idea after the Crimean annexation, used that term in his address to the pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine who have encircled Ukrainian Army units north of Novoazovsk. He asked that the fighters of Novorossiya open a humanitarian corridor to allow the Ukrainian units to retreat.
Mr. Putin said the rebels had “achieved a major success in intercepting Kiev’s military operation.”
Ukraine scrambled to counter Russia and align itself even more with the West on Friday, with the Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, announcing that a bill had been introduced in Parliament to cancel Ukraine’s status as a nonaligned country and to “restore its aspirations to become a NATO member.”
“This law also reaffirms the main political goal of Ukraine — to become a member of the European Union,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said on his Facebook page.
In his message to the separatists, Mr. Putin said, “I call on the militia groups to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian service members who have been surrounded, so as to avoid any needless loss of life, giving them the opportunity to leave the combat area unimpeded and reunite with their families, to return them to their mothers, wives and children, and to quickly provide medical assistance to those who were injured in the course of the military operation.”
Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the rebel leader who said on Thursday that more than 3,000 Russians, including active soldiers on leave, had fought among the separatists, quickly agreed to Mr. Putin’s proposal.
“With all respect to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the president of the country, which has helped us very much with moral support, we are ready to grant humanitarian corridors to the Ukrainian divisions surrounded in these pockets,” Mr. Zakharchenko said. Conditions included the surrender of all heavy armaments and ammunition.
The offensive prompted fresh criticism from the West, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said on Thursday that the possibility of imposing new sanctions against Russia would be discussed at a European Union summit meeting in Brussels on Saturday. In preparation for the meeting, European Union foreign ministers gathered in Milan on Friday to discuss the bloc’s position on the crisis.
In a new sign of Russia’s economic isolation over the Ukraine crisis, it cost more than 37 rubles to buy a dollar on Friday morning, the weakest exchange rate for the Russian currency since the Crimean annexation.
Ukrainian and Western leaders have accused Mr. Putin of backing the rebels with arms, money and men, and have demanded that Russia use its influence over the separatists to put a stop to the fighting. With NATO and Western governments accusing Russia on Thursday of having well over 1,000 active troops in Ukraine, it seemed unlikely that Mr. Putin’s curt and congratulatory statement would assuage anger toward him.
On Friday, the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, offered the alliance’s support for Kiev and condemned what he called a “serious escalation of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.” He was speaking after ambassadors of the 28-nation alliance met at its headquarters in Brussels, first to discuss the Ukraine crisis among themselves and then to hold talks with representatives of the government in Kiev.
“Despite Moscow’s hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and southeastern Ukraine,” Mr. Rasmussen said in a statement. “This is not an isolated action, but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation.”
NATO leaders are to meet in Wales next week, and Mr. Rasmussen said the alliance would assure the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, of NATO’s “unwavering support for Ukraine.”
Mr. Putin and his subordinates have sought to frame the Ukraine insurgency as a struggle by the people in the heavily pro-Russian east against an oppressive central government that is backed by neo-Nazi and other fascist elements.
In remarks to students in Russia on Friday, Mr. Putin said the Ukrainian government actions against southeastern cities reminded him of the Nazi siege of Leningrad, one of the darkest and most emotional touchstones of recent Russian history. Mr. Putin said the government in Kiev was trying to destroy the will of the people who resist.
“It reminds me of World War II, when German forces encircled Russian cities like Leningrad and hit residential quarters with heavy artillery,” he told the students during a question-and-answer session at an education forum that was broadcast live on state television.
Mr. Putin also repeated his position that Russian soldiers captured inside Ukraine this week had gotten lost. He described the fighting as a “common tragedy” for the Slavic people, who shared the same roots.
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