KIEV: Truce talks between Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian insurgents appeared to collapse on Friday after 24 people, mostly civilians, were reported killed in heavy weapons fire in eastern Ukraine, prompting new European criticism of Russia.

Plans for the talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk were announced on Thursday, raising hopes of dialogue amid the collapse of a September truce in a war that has killed at least 5,100 people, according to the United Nations.

But separatist negotiator Denis Pushilin said the talks, mediated by European and Russian envoys, had been scrapped and he blamed the Ukrainian government for not sending representatives.

“The foreign ministry of Belarus confirmed today that Kiev will not come. The talks have been cancelled,” Pushilin told reporters prior to boarding a flight out of Minsk.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyynis told AFP by telephone that the government “has not been informed about today’s talks being called off”.

Insurgency commanders last week pulled out of all peace talks and announced a new offensive that was followed by a rocket assault on the strategic port of Mariupol in which 31 civilians died.

The fighters later distanced themselves from the bloodshed despite being blamed for it by international monitors on site.

While the leaders bickered over the Minsk talks, fighting in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland intensified, with separatists pushing deeper into government-held territory.

Local officials and the Kiev military said 19 civilians and five Ukrainian soldiers died in the latest wave of clashes across the separatist Lugansk and Donetsk regions since Thursday afternoon.

Some of the worst violence was centred around Debaltseve -- a key government-held town of 25,000 people that was built around a railroad connecting the two rebel centres of the Russian-speaking southeast.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play