Ukraine peace plan tatters

The ceasefire in Ukraine hung by a thread yesterday after President Petro Poroshenko accused pro-Russian rebels of endangering the peace process and ordered troop reinforcements to eastern cities.In another sign of how far apart the two sides are drifting, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced he was cutting the rebel-held Donetsk and Lugansk regions off from central government subsidies, so as not to finance "terrorists."

Artillery explosions could be heard early yesterday around the airport in Donetsk, where Ukrainian soldiers have been holding out for weeks against surrounding separatist forces. Following salvos of Grad multiple rockets and cannon fire, black smoke rose from the nearby government-held village of Peski.Ceasefire observers representing government forces, rebels, Russia and the European security body OSCE were due to meet later to "discuss a possible path to a ceasefire in the area of the airport," a spokesman for the Ukrainian military said.But the already tattered truce, which was signed September 5, has looked ever more fragile since rebels defied the government Sunday and held leadership elections that they described as legitimising their two self-declared independent states.

Ukrainian authorities say they are preparing for the worst, following rebel threats to expand their territory.Poroshenko said late Tuesday that he had ordered troop reinforcements to cities across the east to guard against a "possible offensive in the direction of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kharkiv and Lugansk.""We are obliged as the Ukrainian state not to allow the spread of this cancerous tumour, to ensure the blockade of this territory," he said at a meeting with defence chiefs.Russia said it "respected" the rebel elections, but Kiev, the European Union and United States all said that the polls had badly damaged the peace process, which was based on giving rebel areas autonomy, not independence.

As a result, Poroshenko said, he was asking parliament to rescind the law on offering autonomy to the rebels, who are based around the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk.The separatists adopted a conciliatory tone yesterday, saying that they were ready to try and resurrect the peace process.

But Yatsenyuk likewise signalled the government was taking a tougher line, announcing an end to subsidies for the eastern regions till normalcy returns.Gas and power supplies will continue, he said.Analysts say the Ukrainian government's biggest fear is the threat of an offensive by Russian-backed separatists to capture Mariupol and then push along the coast to establish a land corridor linking Russia to Crimea -- another Ukrainian region, which was invaded and annexed by Russia in March.