Ukraine’s ceasefire continues to be smashed to smithereens in the city of Donetsk where pro-Russian rebels are battling to recapture the airport from government forces.<br /><br />Kyiv says there has been no let-up in the separatists’ efforts and not for the first time, it is pointing an accusing finger at Russia.<br /><br />“Terrorists are moving out everything they can find: coal, metal, vehicles and taking it to the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Spokesman Andriy Lysenko told a news conference. <br /><br />“The OSCE mission has a chance to monitor this. Terrorists are still breaking the ceasefire. The main target for the terrorists is the airport. In the past 24 hours, it has been attacked five times.”<br /><br />In Belarus, at a meeting of a bloc of ex-Soviet republics, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted the separatists be included in the search for a solution.<br /><br />“To begin a dialogue, which is already starting to shape between representatives of Kyiv and the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics – this is the first step,” Lavrov said. <br /><br />“The next should be a wide-ranging political dialogue, a constitutional reform including all regions and all of Ukraine’s political forces.”<br /><br />Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko next week on the sidelines of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Milan, the Kremlin said on Thursday.<br /><br />In the meantime, the fighting rages on. The conflict in eastern Ukraine is still claiming about 10 lives a day among government troops, pro-Russian separatists and civilians despite the ceasefire agreed in early September, the United Nations says.<br /><br />Moscow vehemently denies accusations that it has backed the separatists with weapons and soldiers. But the West remains to be convinced with anti-Russian sanctions remaining firmly in place.
