Kiev launches air strikes against gunmen
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UKRAINE launched air strikes and a paratrooper assault against pro-Russian rebels who seized an airport yesterday, as its newly elected leader rejected any talks with “terrorists” and said a robust military campaign in the east should be able to put down a separatist revolt in “a matter of hours.”
Ukrainians rallied overwhelmingly in an election on Sunday behind Petro Poroshenko, a political veteran and billionaire owner of chocolate factories, hoping the burly 48-year-old can rescue the nation from the brink of bankruptcy, civil war and dismemberment by its former Soviet masters in the Kremlin.
Yesterday’s rapid military response to separatists who seized the airport in Donetsk was a defiant answer to Moscow, which said it was ready for dialogue with Poroshenko but demanded he first scale back the armed forces’ campaign in the east.
Even as the fighting was getting under way, Poroshenko held a news conference in Kiev where he said the government’s military offensive needed to be “quicker and more effective.”
“The anti-terrorist operation should not last two or three months. It should last for a matter of hours,” he said.
As for the rebel fighters: “They want to preserve a bandit state which is held in place by force of arms,” he said. “Nobody in any civilised state will hold negotiations with terrorists.”
Gunfire and explosions could be heard as a warplane flew over Donetsk’s Sergei Prokofiev International Airport, hours after truckloads of armed rebel fighters arrived and seized a terminal. Smoke rose from within the perimeter.
The government said its jets had strafed the area with warning shots and then struck a location where rebels were concentrated, scattering fighters before paratroops were flown in to face them.
The airport serves a city of 1 million people that the rebels have proclaimed capital of an independent “people’s republic,” and where they succeeded in blocking voting in Sunday’s election.
Their attempt to seize the airport may have been intended to prevent Poroshenko from travelling there: he has said his first trip in office would be to visit the restive east.
Preliminary results with more than three quarters of votes counted gave Poroshenko 54 percent of the vote — towering over a field of 21 candidates with enough support to avert a run-off. His closest challenger, former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, secured 13.1 percent and made clear she would concede.
“I hope Russia will support efforts to tackle the situation in the east,” Poroshenko said. He said he planned to meet Russian officials next month.
But he also showed no sign of heeding Moscow’s demand that he call off the operation against rebels in the east.
“Protecting people is one of the functions of the state,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised at the weekend that Moscow would respect the will of Ukrainians, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday said Russia was ready for dialogue.
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