MOSCOW--Ukraine suffered heavy losses Thursday in a
counterattack along a key supply route to the separatist capital of
Donetsk, signaling that despite steady advances by government
forces pro-Russian rebel fighters still pose a significant
threat.
Losses have mounted recently and the fierce fighting adds more
pressure on Kiev to seek a compromise at peace talks next week in
the Belarusian capital of Minsk, where Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet
face-to-face for the first time in two months.
The attack in the town of Ilovaisk left 19 fighters from
pro-Kiev volunteer battalions dead and 42 wounded, said senior
Interior Ministry aide Anton Gerashchenko, without giving a time
frame. The government has been steadily eating away at
rebel-controlled territory and had said it regained control of
Ilovaisk on Wednesday.
Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security
and Defense Council, said the government had repulsed the insurgent
counterattacks and that reinforcements had been sent to help
bolster the town's defenses. Separatist leaders, however, said they
had surrounded Ukrainian units in the town and prevented
reinforcements from getting there.
The losses in Ilovaisk, "shows how fierce the fighting is
there," Mr. Gerashchenko wrote in a post on his Facebook page. The
four battalions fighting in Ilovaisk are from four volunteer units,
and Mr. Gerashchenko said they were acting effectively as army
units but without heavy weaponry.
Kiev forces have increasingly relied on the committed but poorly
trained volunteer units in recent weeks. Mr. Gerashchenko wrote in
his post Thursday that a problem in the operation was a lack of
coordination with the army, which provides artillery support for
operations.
The monthslong conflict has begun to weigh heavily on Ukraine's
already weakened economy. On Thursday, Economy Minister Pavlo
Sheremeta said he had submitted his resignation because he was
unhappy with the pace of reforms and the appointment of a trade
representative without his approval.
Mr. Sheremeta's departed with a broadside at the government's
attempts to overhaul its moribund economy, which is forecast to
contract by more than 6% this year.
"We need to change this whole paradigm: The system, the people,
the processes," Mr. Sheremeta said Thursday.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an economist who threatened to
quit last month over the slow pace of reform, has warned that
restoring infrastructure in eastern Ukraine could cost billions of
dollars and that the conflict was hamstringing much-needed economic
overhauls.
At the same time, Col. Lysenko pointed to government progress in
the battle for control of the rebel's easternmost stronghold of
Luhansk. Over the weekend, Ukraine took control of a district
police station not far from the city and on Wednesday, Col. Lysenko
claimed troops had taken control of "a significant part" of the
city," without specifying what additional gains had been made.
The rebels deny that the government has made any serious
advances into the city. On Thursday, Col. Lysenko said that fierce
fighting continues to take place there and that soldiers working in
small mobile groups were moving to take out rebel units and
checkpoints.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities issued a directive that a
convoy of nearly 300 trucks sent by Moscow carrying what the
Russians say is humanitarian aid be inspected before crossing into
Ukraine.
Col. Lysenko said Ukrainian officials working on the Russian
side of the border were waiting for final confirmation from the
International Committee of the Red Cross that it had received
security guarantees from the rebels and was ready to deliver the
cargo.
The trucks have remained in a field near the border since for a
week. Sixteen of the trucks were moved to the Russian border point
at the weekend, and more began to head out in that direction from
the field Thursday.
Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com
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