Calm returns to flashpoint Ukraine town as Trump pledges to help
Fighting subsided around a flashpoint Ukrainian town on Sunday following a week-long surge in violence that prompted US President Donald Trump to pledge to help bring peace to the European Union's backyard.
The Ukrainian military said in the late afternoon that no soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours for the first time since fighting over the blue-collar town of Avdiivka soared last Sunday.
A total of 27 people have died in the battered town while eight more were killed in other parts of the war zone that covers the Russian-backed eastern separatist fiefdoms of Lugansk and Donetsk.
A Ukrainian Forces tank is stationed outside a building in the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, north of the pro-Russian rebels' de facto capital of Donetsk, on February 2, 2017 ©Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)
AFP reporters on the scene said the streets of Avdiivka were quiet and no shelling could be heard from the outskirts where both sides have their big guns stationed.
Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Klymenko told AFP that a pause in hostilities agreed by the two sides came into effect from 8:00 am (0600 GMT).
Yet he stressed that it was only a verbal deal and not on paper.
"We are still along way off a complete ceasefire," Kiev military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk added in Kiev.
Klymenko said the truce was aimed at allowing workers to repair broken power lines after many in the town of 25,000 -- nearly 300 of whom have been evacuated -- spent days without power or heat and only limited supplies of water.
- Different spins -
Ukraine said the overall level of rebel shelling across the conflict zone had halved over the past day while the insurgents announced their frontline towns had not come under bombardment overnight.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's first conversation with the new US leader since his inauguration took place as the impoverished and battle-weary former Soviet republic worries that Trump is seeking to build a friendship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Some analysts believe this potential improvement in relations with Moscow had emboldened the rebels and was behind the Avdiivka carnage.
Others attributed it to a battle for power within the insurgency movement and the right for its warlords to brag about who staged the biggest attack.
Trump used Saturday's call to promise to try to push for an end to the war but appeared to stop short of offering the sort of staunch backing Ukraine enjoyed under the Barack Obama administration.
"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," the White House quoted Trump as saying.
The White House further said that the two leaders had a "good call" but provided few other details except to note that a meeting between Trump and Poroshenko was being arranged for the future.
Poroshenko himself put a more positive spin on the high-profile conversation.
A statement issued by his office thanked Trump for his "firm support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity".
It added that the two leaders expressed "deep concern" about the spike in fighting in Avdiivka and underscored the need for an "immediate ceasefire".
- 'Aggressive actions' -
The Ukrainian presidency also said that they "spoke in favour of energising dialogue at all levels with the new US administration".
All those comments were missing from the release issued by the White House.
The talks follow Trump's phone conversation with Putin on January 28 that both sides described as constructive.
The 33-month conflict began shortly after Ukraine ousted its Russian-backed leader in February 2014.
Moscow responded by annexing Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March 2014 before allegedly plotting the eastern insurgency to keep Ukraine under its thumb.
Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in Ukraine -- a surprising attack given Trump's warm words for Putin.
Russia denies any responsibility for the unrest and blames the United States for igniting three months of massive street protests that turned Ukraine toward the West.
The entire conflict has claimed more than 10,000 lives and become one of Europe's bloodiest crises since the 1990s Balkans wars.
Ukraine fighting flares ©S.Ramis/J.Jacobsen (AFP)
Elderly residents of the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, just north of the de facto rebel capital of Donetsk, sit by tents set-up for those who lost heat in their homes on February 2, 2017 ©Aleksey FILIPPOV (AFP)
Servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine and communal workers load humanitarian aid for Avdiivka inhabitants on February 3, 2017 ©GENYA SAVILOV (AFP)
A mourning ceremony in Kiev on February 1, 2017 for one of seven Ukrainian servicemen who died during fighting in eastern town of Avdiivka ©Sergei SUPINSKY (AFP/File)
