Nato leaders in Wales will be watching closely the outcome
of the peace talks in Belarus
A busy day in terms of diplomacy for Ukraine crisis is ahead
as NATO leaders meet on the second day of a summit in Wales and ceasefire talks
take place in the Belarusian capital.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the main
pro-Russian rebel leader said they would both order ceasefires on Friday,
provided that an agreement is reached on a new peace plan in Minsk to end the
five-month war in Ukraine's east.
The announcements came after a week in which the pro-Moscow separatists scored major victories with what NATO says is the open support of thousands of Russian troops and armour.
Speaking on the side lines of the NATO summit near the Welsh
city of Newport, Poroshenko said the ceasefire would be conditional on the
planned meeting going ahead in Minsk of envoys from Ukraine, Russia and
Europe's OSCE security and rights watchdog.
"At 14:00 local time [11:00 GMT on Friday], provided
the meeting takes place, I will call on the general staff to set up a bilateral
ceasefire and we hope that the implementation of the peace plan will begin
tomorrow," he told reporters.
On Thursday, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. the NATO secretary
general, told the Kremlin to pull back Russian troops from Ukraine and to stop
supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Rasmussen also said that NATO would not collectively supply
arms to Ukraine, saying it was up to individual members to decide whether to
supply arms to the conflict-wracked country.
To aid Ukraine's military, NATO leaders instead agreed on a
$20m package to help in the areas of cyberdefence, logistics, rehabilitating
soldiers injured by the rebels, and command, communications and control
capabilities, the AP news agency said.
Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Newport, said that
the North Atlantic Council, the decision-making body of the alliance, will
decide what to do next on Ukraine.
"It is pretty much clear that they are going to sert up
a joint fast response force which can be activated in 48 hours. Also there will
most likely be military training programmes for eastern European
countries," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House said that key NATO
leaders had agreed during the meeting that Russia should face increased
sanctions for its actions in eastern Ukraine.
Ambassadors of the EU member states are also gathering in
Brussels to discuss further sanctions on Russia.
US Senator John McCain said "truly crushing
sanctions" should be imposed on Russia during his visit to Kiev on
Thursday.
"I have come to Kiev to show US's support to Ukraine's
struggle and to urge my government and the world to do more to support this
country, to urgently provide defensive weapons, intelligence and other
assistance that can help Ukrainians to defend their sovereign country and to
impose truly crushing sanctions on Russia," McCain said at a news
conference.
Meanwhile, Russia has banned confectionery imports from two
Ukrainian firms, Konti and AVK, Russia's consumer watchdog said on Friday.
Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement that both companies had
violated the law on consumer rights protection.
In the past two weeks, the rebels have made substantial
advances against Ukrainian forces, including opening a new front along the Sea
of Azov.
That offensive has raised concerns the rebels are aiming to
seize Mariupol, a major port of about 500,000 people, and create a land
corridor between Russia and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed
in March.
No comments:
Post a Comment