2015-06-11 19:04:00

Several killed as Ukraine war impacts economy and region


(Vatican Radio) Officials said Thursday two Ukrainian soldiers and three civilians have been killed in separate incidents in eastern Ukraine where government forces are fighting against Russian-backed separatists. 

Kiev also warned it may have to invoke a moratorium on the country's debt payment unless an agreement is reached with creditors on a multi-billion dollar aid package as its economy is suffering of war.  

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: 

The latest setbacks came as Kiev accused Russia of sending thousands of troops to fight with the rebels, while Moscow said Ukraine's central government had been forced into war by the United States. 

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the two soldiers were killed and 13 other servicemen wounded since Wednesday as separatists allegedly used heavy weapons in violation of a ceasefire agreed in February. 

A rebel defense official, Eduard Basurin, said three women died when Ukrainian forces shelled the town of Horlivka in separatist-held territory northeast of the big regional city of Donetsk. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of escalating the conflict by sending thousands of troops to support the pro-Russian rebels. "More than 10,000 Russian military boots are on the Ukrainian soil and in addition about 30,000 Russian terrorists trained by the Russian [security service] and the Russian army," he said. "And we need to retain unity between the EU and the US and to act both wisely and in concert against the Russian-led aggression."

MOSCOW DENIES

Russia has denied supporting the separatists with weapons and troops in a conflict that has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced more than two million people. Instead Russia accused the United States on Thursday of  forcing Kiev into a war in eastern Ukraine. Moscow also denied violating arms treaties and urged Washington to fully implement a treaty on eliminating intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. 

Russia's standoff with Kiev and the West over the conflict in Ukraine is impacting several former Soviet satellite states. 

A European Union embargo on arms imports from Russia, for instance, is now forcing several nations to buy expensive Western weaponry. 

Slovakia's defense ministry says it has to buy new air defense radars because it is unable to service its Russian-made models for lack of spares. And Bulgaria claims it has to ask allies to help patrol its airspace because it will have to take Soviet-made jet fighters out of use because it cannot service them. 

DEBT PAYMENTS

Back in Ukraine, authorities are struggling to pay for an expensive war that has devastated its already fragile economy.

A Ukrainian official even warned that she may invoke a moratorium on the country's debt payments before reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure debts. Ukraine's parliament passed a law last month that would allow the government to impose a moratorium on foreign debt payments if necessary.

"I don't think we have that much time," Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told reporters in Washington, when asked if debt negotiations could last past the summer.  "In that respect, I'd have to use other tools to reduce the pressure on the balance of payments, a moratorium," she said.

Jaresko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk are in Washington this week to meet with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), promote Ukraine as an investment destination, and ask U.S. officials for more economic and military support.

The minister said Ukraine cannot wait until September to reach an agreement with its creditors to find some $15.3 billion in savings, and likely would have to call a debt moratorium first.

She expressed hope the IMF would release its next $1.7 billion tranche of aid to Kiev next month, even if there is no agreement on a debt restructuring by then.








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