Ukraine throws reinforcements at Debaltseve, separatists vow to escalate war

A column of armor, artillery
and troop transports nearly a kilometer long could be seen rumbling down the
road from Ukraine’s headquarters at Kramatorsk to Artyomovsk, a city of 75,000
famous for its sparkling wine and salt mine, some 30 kilometers north of Debaltseve’s
strategic rail and road junction.

Ukraine’s hold on the area
had looked precarious on the night of Feb. 1, with one Ukrainian National Guard
unit even complaining they had been abandoned because other units had fled the
city after separatist forces reached the outskirts.

Army generals appeared to
have responded on Feb. 2 with reinforcements, but it may yet prove too little, too late for the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers battling to repel the Russian-backed forces’ offensive at Debaltseve. They now find themselves
surrounded but for a single supply road under constant threat of attack.

Military officials were
tight-lipped about the battle, with Ukrainian army spokesperson Colonel Andriy
Lysenko refusing to comment beyond “all attacks were repelled” and initially
denying Ukrainian choppers were in the air. When informed the helicopters had
been caught on camera, he told the Kyiv Post:

“I can’t comment on that, but
I can tell you that Ukraine only uses helicopters for transporting wounded,
they don’t attack people.”

Fighting was particularly
heavy in the village of Vuhlehirsk, a village 10 kilometers west of Debaltseve.
Pro-Ukrainian forces had lost control of the village on Jan. 30, allowing
separatist artillery to get within range of Debaltseve’s supply road, but
pushed back over the weekend to deny the insurgents full control of the area.

Casualties continued to flow
into Artyomovsk hospital, but in fewer numbers than on Feb. 1, according to one
soldier, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to
press.

“Today they are taking more
losses than us,” he told the Kyiv Post. “The situation is more stable than
yesterday. Yesterday was bad.”

In an apparent sign of
frustration with his forces’ lack of an immediate breakthrough, Alexander
Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic,
announced a plan to mobilize a further 100,000 troops for a spring offensive.

Zakharchenko
added that he wanted to create “at least five
additional brigades; three motorised infantry, one artillery and one tank.”

With an estimated 3 million
people of all ages currently living in both the Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s
Republics’, the announcement is considered by many as a thinly veiled threat
to bring more Russian troops into the region.

The uncompromising attitude of
Zakharchenko and his Russian backers in the Kremlin has prompted renewed debate
in the U.S. as to whether or not to supply Ukraine with arms.

Pressure is mounting on U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration to
provide Kyiv with lethal weapons after a leading senator from Obama’s party,
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey), urged the administration to
“respond to these attacks and to Putin, who has willfully ignored commitments
made under the Minsk Agreement and clearly signaled his intentions to escalate
tensions in Ukraine and across the region.”

A Feb. 2 report penned by a number of U.S. foreign
policy experts, including former ambassadors to Ukraine Steven Pifer and John
Herbst, now calls for America to provide $3 billion in military assistance to
Ukraine over the next three years.

The group also called on other NATO members to provide
lethal defensive weapons and equipment to reverse what they call an
“urgent and deteriorating” situation in eastern Ukraine, where Russia
has been waging war since April.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit
Kyiv on Feb. 5 and discussion of the issue is expected to be high on his
agenda.

Editor’s Note: This article has been produced with support from www.mymedia.org.ua, financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and implemented by a joint venture between NIRAS and BBC Media Action. Content is independent of the financial donor.