Ukraine developments

[Bob Of Burleson]

Ukrainian cease-fire
on verge of collapse
after deadly rebel attacks

By Michael Birnbaum
The Washington Post

KIEV, Ukraine — A cease-fire in eastern Ukraine appeared to break down Tuesday when a rebel attack on a military helicopter killed nine people and a separate assault killed two soldiers, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin took steps to support the country’s tenuous peace process.

Putin asked parliament to revoke his legal authority to invade Ukraine, a move that Russian lawmakers approved Wednesday. He also said he supports the continuation of the cease-fire and direct negotiations between the Kiev government and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

But both sides traded accusations Tuesday that the other had violated the truce, and the downing of the helicopter near the rebel-held city of Slovyansk dashed hopes for peace a day after the warring parties held their first talks.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement after the helicopter downing that he may end the cease-fire early and that he had ordered military leaders to open fire in response to any attack. The truce is set to expire at 10 a.m. Friday.

Vladimir Seleznev, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said on his Facebook page that the Mi-8 helicopter was struck by a shoulder-fired missile shot from the village of Bylbasovka, just outside Slovyansk. The helicopter was delivering monitoring equipment, he said, and all nine people aboard were killed. Shelling at a checkpoint outside Slovyansk killed two soldiers, he said.

The deaths broke an uneasy quiet that had settled over the region after pro-Russian separatists agreed to the cease-fire Monday. The separatists are not a unified force and have at times battled internally. The leader of the Slovyansk separatists, a Russian citizen who goes by the name of Igor Strelkov, was not at the talks, where former president Leonid Kuchma represented Poroshenko.

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