Guns fall silent in Ukraine truce

[frigidmagi]

The Australian

UKRAINE forces were ­ordered to stop firing late last night after a ceasefire was signed with Russian-backed rebels.

Ukrainian President Petro ­Poroshenko ordered his army commander to halt fire in Kiev’s five-month campaign against pro-Russian insurgents at midnight (AEST) under the terms of a new truce deal.

“I am ordering the head of the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine to halt fire ...,” Mr Poroshenko said in a statement published on his official website

The announcement came after representatives from Ukraine, Russia, the rebels and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe met in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.

Since mid-April, Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine in a conflict the UN estimates has killed nearly 2600 people.

The ceasefire deal came only an hour after NATO approved plans to dispatch several thousand troops in eastern Europe in a rapid response force to help an alliance country under ­attack.

Seeking to counter Russian ­aggression, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the new unit would send a clear message to potential aggressors.

The troops would be backed by air, sea and special forces, with a command and control centre and extra resources in eastern Europe.

“This decision sends a clear message: NATO protects all allies at all times,” Mr Rasmussen ­declared at the end of a two-day summit in southern Wales.

“And it sends a clear message to any potential aggressor: should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance.”

The deal is the cornerstone of talks at the summit on how to combat Russia’s provocations in Ukraine. While Ukraine is not part of the NATO alliance, Russia’s ­actions have prompted fears among member countries in central and eastern Europe that the Kremlin could seek to make gains within their borders as well.

Mr Rasmussen said the high-readiness force would give NATO a “continuous presence” in eastern Europe, with alliance countries contributing forces on a rotational basis. The force will include land, air and sea assets.

“Today we will ensure that we have the right forces and equipment in the right place for as long as required and commit to reverse the decline of defence budgets,” Mr Rasmussen said.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain was prepared to contribute 3500 troops to the force.

“As Russia tramples illegally over Ukraine, we must reassure our eastern European members that we will always uphold our ­Article 5 commitments,” Mr Cameron said of the NATO guarantee outlined when it was set up in 1949.

He said the 28 allies would launch a “spearhead force deployable anywhere in the world in just two to five days’’ and would be headquartered in Poland.

“If we can agree on this, the UK will contribute 3500 personnel,” he said at the summit billed as the most important since the end of the Cold War.

Before the ceasefire announcement, shelling continued on the outskirts of a key Ukrainian port where Russian-backed rebels pressed their southeast offensive.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop suggested Australian investigators could revisit the MH17 crash site if a ceasefire was agreed upon.

“I spoke to (Ukrainian) Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and President Petro Poroshenko at length about the chances of the ceasefire not only being announced, but holding for a period of time,” Ms Bishop said at the NATO talks last night.

“We still have Australian Federal Police in Kiev, we have a presence there (and) as the Prime Minister announced this week, we will be having a more permanent embassy.”

President Poroshenko had said on Thursday that he was ready to order a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine if a deal was signed.

The rebels said they were ready to ­declare a truce if agreement could be reached on a political settlement for the mostly Russian-speaking region.

I imagine this this a good thing for the forced labor the rebels have been using.

[B4UTRUST]

Topic commentary split to DB. Original post retained due to relevance.