Ukrainian Army in Full Retreat Around City of Donetsk

Andrew E. Kramer

January 23, 2015

DONETSK, Ukraine — A main leader of the Russian-backed rebels in easternUkraine said on Friday that his soldiers were “on the offensive” in several sectors, building on their success in capturing a long-contested airport the day before.

“We will attack” until the Ukrainian Army is driven from the borders of the Donetsk region, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic rebel group, said in comments carried by Russian news agencies. Referring to the Ukrainian government, he said, “Kiev doesn’t understand now that we can attack in three directions simultaneously.”

Tanks rumbled down the snowy roads of rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine on Friday, with soldiers in green and unmarked uniforms sitting on their turrets, waving at bystanders.

Mr. Zakharchenko did not detail the rebels’ intentions, but any major offensive would clearly be a repudiation of the cease-fire signed on Sept. 5 and endorsed by the group’s main sponsor, Russia. That agreement had set the de facto borders of the rebel republic to encompass about one-third of the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Footage produced by “Army.SOS”, a group linked to the Ukrainian army, apparently shot on Jan.15, shows aerial views of the damage to Donetsk airport after recent fighting.Video by Army.SOS on Publish Date January 23, 2015. Photo by Reuters.

Mr. Zakharchenko has threatened to expand his territory before, but his warnings have not typically prompted much alarm. It is unclear how much freedom he has to act independently of Russia. A major rebel offensive would probably prompt Western nations to impose additional sanctions on Russia, whose economy is already struggling.

While the rebel leader spoke of his own side’s offensive, Russian officials claimed that the Ukrainian government was responsible for the recent rise in fighting in the east. President Vladimir V. Putin said in broadcast comments to state officials that “the Kiev authorities have given an official order to start large-scale military operations practically throughout the whole line of contact,” Reuters reported. Mr. Putin was quoted as adding, “Those who give these criminal orders are responsible.”

Russian-backed rebels carried a dead fighter to a hospital in Donetsk. CreditBrendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Mr. Zakharchenko spoke a day after rebel soldiers pushed the Ukrainian Army out of the ruins of the Donetsk airport, which had been claimed by both sides. It was more of a symbolic prize than a strategic one; the airport’s terminal and runways were destroyed months ago.

By dawn on Thursday, the Ukrainian Army appeared to be in a chaotic and bloody retreat from the airport grounds, leaving behind their dead in the wreckage of the main terminal, a Russian news video showed.

Fighting also flared in other areas, including a road and rail hub northeast of Donetsk, as well as a strategic checkpoint near Luhansk, the other main rebel stronghold. Rebel commanders claimed on Friday to have captured the village of Krasny Partizan, north of Donetsk, which would be another setback for government forces.

Speaking at a meeting of security officials in Kiev after the loss of the airport, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine expressed frustration with the broken peace process.

“If the enemy does not want to abide by the cease-fire, if the enemy doesn’t want to stop the suffering of innocent people in Ukrainian villages and towns,” Mr. Poroshenko said in a statement on his website, “we will give it to them in the teeth.”

The slow grind of combat that began in April has now killed at least 5,086 soldiers and civilians in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations reported on Friday. The world body bases its estimate on official morgue and hospital reports, and analysts believe that it understates the total death toll. The report said that 262 of the deaths occurred in the past nine days, making that period the deadliest since the September cease-fire.