Ukraine Retreats in Effort to Isolate Rebel Stronghold - WSJ
▻http://online.wsj.com/articles/putin-lashes-out-at-ukraine-over-failure-of-talks-1409312151
(ordre des extraits inversé)
Along Ukraine’s southern coast, where Kiev said Russian forces helped open a third front this past week, the Russians and rebels dug in at the border town of Novoazovsk and shelled Ukrainian positions on the road to the port city of Mariupol, said Col. Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian military spokesman.
But rebel claims that they had that city nearly encircled weren’t confirmed by witnesses. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who arrived in Mariupol on Friday, reported the situation was calm, while noting “significant movement of Ukrainian military vehicles—mainly armored personnel carriers.”
Elsewhere, however, the rebels appear to gaining ground after weeks of losses.
On Friday, a volunteer unit fighting for Kiev said it was outnumbered and was forced to abandon two key villages on a road linking Luhansk to Russia, a blow for Kiev’s efforts to encircle that city.
There were conflicting reports of whether Kiev’s forces were driven out of the strategic highland of Savur-Mohyla, south of Donetsk, which Ukrainian forces retook after heavy fighting last month.
“The situation remains very complex,” said Col. Lysenko.
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Adding to the tension, the Ukrainian government proposed repealing a law banning membership in military blocs and moving toward joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a day after NATO said more than 1,000 Russian troops are fighting alongside the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russia has said such a move would be a threat to its national interest.
