MOSCOW, Russia -- Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that the crisis in Ukraine could lead to a major war, or even a nuclear war.
In an interview with a German magazine, he criticized both Russia and the West.
In an interview with the German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel, 83-year-old former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said the crisis in Ukraine could lead to large-scale war in Europe or even a nuclear war.
"We won't survive if someone loses their nerves in the current tension."
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate decried the "loss of trust" between Russia and the West as "catastrophic," and said ties must be "defrosted."
Gorbachev accused the West and NATO of destroying the structure of European security by expanding its alliance.
"No head of the Kremlin can ignore such a thing," he said, adding that the US was unfortunately starting to establish a "mega empire."
The man seen as a key player in the reunification of former East and West Germany in 1990 also accused Germany of interfering in Ukraine's crisis, saying:
"The new Germany wants its hands in every pie. There seems to be a lot of people who want to be involved in a new division of Europe. "Germany has already tried to expand its influence of power towards the East - in World War II. Does it really need another lesson?"
He said Western attempts to disempower Russian President Vladimir Putin and destabilize Russia were "very stupid and extremely dangerous."
He defended the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula last year, but criticized the Russian leader's authoritarian style of leadership.
He said Russia needed free elections and "the participation of the people in free elections.
"It is simply not acceptable when someone such as the anti-corruption blogger and politician Alexei Navalny is under house arrest for speaking out."
Gorbachev has warned of a nuclear war on a number of occasions in recent months.
In an article for the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta, published on December 11, he said:
"The situation in Europe and the world is extremely alarming … the result of the events that took place in the last months is a catastrophic loss of trust in international relation," which could lead to war. He urged Russia and the US as well as Russia and the EU to hold talks "without preconditions" and without fear of "losing face."
"We must think of the future," the former leader said.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are set to meet in Berlin to launch another attempt to break the deadlock in the Ukraine conflict.
The ministers are expected to discuss the possibility of a summit of the four countries' leaders in Kazakhstan, which Ukraine had suggested take place on January 15.
Regarding the fragile four-month-old ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, which has been broken on a number of occasions, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said everything should be done to reach a compromise, adding, "It would be wrong not to try it."
Sunday 11 January 2015
Beneath The Front Lines Of The War In Eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine -- A brutal ground war is tearing apart the region's coal-mining community as the long winter settles in.
The miners didn’t hear the impact of the shell and kept extracting coal from the earth more than half a mile below the battlefield.
They continued their work for several minutes, oblivious to the danger they were suddenly facing.
The shell, said to have been fired on Nov. 22 by the Ukrainian army in its war against pro-Russian separatists, had struck a shed at the state-owned Chelyuskintsev coal mine in the Petrovskyi district, located on the western edge of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
The resulting explosion damaged the electrical and ventilation systems that serve the mine’s deepest shaft.
A phone call from the security supervisor at the surface brought troubling news to the deputy director, who was working down below with more than 50 miners: they had just two hours of oxygen left, and the nearest elevator was now unpowered.
Interstellar’s Wonder of Worlds Beyond French photographer Jerome Sessini happened to be photographing at the mine that day.
“At the beginning, the miners were quite relaxed and some of them were joking with us because it was a bit weird to see a photographer at the bottom of the mine,” Sessini told TIME.
“The miners changed—their attitudes changed—so I felt something very serious was happening.”
The deputy director reassured him that all was well, saying “don’t worry, everything is okay, just walk and everything will be fine.”
(He wouldn’t find out until more than an hour later the kind of threat they had faced.)
The men began to find their way up and out of the mine on foot, using their headlamps to light the way.
Shadowed by Sessini, they walked for about 30 minutes until they reached a rusted cable car powered by a small rescue generator.
The car took them along a railroad eight kilometers (five miles) away to an elevator that ran off a power source unaffected by the shelling.
They were now 270 meters (885 feet) below ground level.
The elevator hauled them to the top of the mine.
An hour and 20 minutes after the shelling, the men reached daylight—safe from the threat underground but back into the war zone.
Since last spring, the Russia-backed separatists have fought government forces for control of the eastern region of the country, one of Ukraine’s main industrial hubs and its coal-mining heartland.
Almost 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting, the U.N. estimates, and more than half a million are internally displaced.
Based in Paris, Sessini has spent much of the past year covering the unrest and its civilian impact in Ukraine.
From the pro-independence demonstrations in Kiev, which erupted after the country’s former president opted against signing an association deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia, to the rise of the separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk, he has intimately documented the country’s fracture into civil war.
In July, Sessini was among the first on the scene after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a missile, killing all 298 people aboard.
That’s where he first came into contact with miners, when they were scanning the fields with firefighters, looking for victims.
Aware that mining is the region’s backbone — some families have taken up the profession for generations — he was interested to go deeper and arranged with his translator to find an active mine that would let him in.
Ukraine’s country’s coal industry, Europe’s fourth largest, has been hit particularly hard by the conflict.
Sixty-six of eastern Ukraine’s mines had been lost as of Nov. 18, according to Euracoal, a Brussels-based trade association, and just 60 remained in operation.
The drop in production—Ukraine produced 2.3 million tons of coal in October, according to its State Statistics Service, down almost 60% compared to the same month a year earlier—has created a critical shortfall.
And it’s taken a toll on the thousands of families in eastern Ukraine that rely on the industry.
The closures have halted paychecks for months and left many without work.
Sessini described the miners as “a very proud people,” the “elites” of the community who are somehow keeping their humanity despite the war:
“They try to show they are having a normal life but you can see in their faces a kind of anger and frustration and depression.”
Some families have fled the region in search of stability; others have moved underground into World War II–era bomb shelters.
And while miners have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the conflict, desperation and resentment have pushed some into the arms of the separatists.
The Ukrainian government said in late December that it has arranged to import enough coal to avoid power outages in the coming months.
The imports will help Ukrainians stay warm during what is sure to be a cruel winter, but until the two sides strike a peace deal, the suffering in eastern Ukraine will continue—above ground and below.
The miners didn’t hear the impact of the shell and kept extracting coal from the earth more than half a mile below the battlefield.
They continued their work for several minutes, oblivious to the danger they were suddenly facing.
The shell, said to have been fired on Nov. 22 by the Ukrainian army in its war against pro-Russian separatists, had struck a shed at the state-owned Chelyuskintsev coal mine in the Petrovskyi district, located on the western edge of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
The resulting explosion damaged the electrical and ventilation systems that serve the mine’s deepest shaft.
A phone call from the security supervisor at the surface brought troubling news to the deputy director, who was working down below with more than 50 miners: they had just two hours of oxygen left, and the nearest elevator was now unpowered.
Interstellar’s Wonder of Worlds Beyond French photographer Jerome Sessini happened to be photographing at the mine that day.
“At the beginning, the miners were quite relaxed and some of them were joking with us because it was a bit weird to see a photographer at the bottom of the mine,” Sessini told TIME.
“The miners changed—their attitudes changed—so I felt something very serious was happening.”
The deputy director reassured him that all was well, saying “don’t worry, everything is okay, just walk and everything will be fine.”
(He wouldn’t find out until more than an hour later the kind of threat they had faced.)
The men began to find their way up and out of the mine on foot, using their headlamps to light the way.
Shadowed by Sessini, they walked for about 30 minutes until they reached a rusted cable car powered by a small rescue generator.
The car took them along a railroad eight kilometers (five miles) away to an elevator that ran off a power source unaffected by the shelling.
They were now 270 meters (885 feet) below ground level.
The elevator hauled them to the top of the mine.
An hour and 20 minutes after the shelling, the men reached daylight—safe from the threat underground but back into the war zone.
Since last spring, the Russia-backed separatists have fought government forces for control of the eastern region of the country, one of Ukraine’s main industrial hubs and its coal-mining heartland.
Almost 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting, the U.N. estimates, and more than half a million are internally displaced.
Based in Paris, Sessini has spent much of the past year covering the unrest and its civilian impact in Ukraine.
From the pro-independence demonstrations in Kiev, which erupted after the country’s former president opted against signing an association deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia, to the rise of the separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk, he has intimately documented the country’s fracture into civil war.
In July, Sessini was among the first on the scene after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a missile, killing all 298 people aboard.
That’s where he first came into contact with miners, when they were scanning the fields with firefighters, looking for victims.
Aware that mining is the region’s backbone — some families have taken up the profession for generations — he was interested to go deeper and arranged with his translator to find an active mine that would let him in.
Ukraine’s country’s coal industry, Europe’s fourth largest, has been hit particularly hard by the conflict.
Sixty-six of eastern Ukraine’s mines had been lost as of Nov. 18, according to Euracoal, a Brussels-based trade association, and just 60 remained in operation.
The drop in production—Ukraine produced 2.3 million tons of coal in October, according to its State Statistics Service, down almost 60% compared to the same month a year earlier—has created a critical shortfall.
And it’s taken a toll on the thousands of families in eastern Ukraine that rely on the industry.
The closures have halted paychecks for months and left many without work.
Sessini described the miners as “a very proud people,” the “elites” of the community who are somehow keeping their humanity despite the war:
“They try to show they are having a normal life but you can see in their faces a kind of anger and frustration and depression.”
Some families have fled the region in search of stability; others have moved underground into World War II–era bomb shelters.
And while miners have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the conflict, desperation and resentment have pushed some into the arms of the separatists.
The Ukrainian government said in late December that it has arranged to import enough coal to avoid power outages in the coming months.
The imports will help Ukrainians stay warm during what is sure to be a cruel winter, but until the two sides strike a peace deal, the suffering in eastern Ukraine will continue—above ground and below.
Ukraine Crisis: Rebels 'Intensify Donetsk And Luhansk Attacks'
DONETSK, Ukraine -- Pro-Russian separatists have intensified their shelling of government positions in eastern Ukraine, military officials say.
Four Ukrainian soldiers and two civilians have reportedly been killed in the latest violence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Officials said the spike in attacks followed the arrival of a Russian aid convoy in the region on Thursday.
The fighting comes ahead of peace talks mooted to take place next week.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet on Monday to discuss the crisis, according to the German foreign ministry.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in December that he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, the Kazakh capital, on 15 January alongside the German and French leaders.
However, officials in Germany and France have not confirmed this.
Ukrainian military officials said the soldiers had been killed following a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on army positions in eastern Ukraine.
They claim the Russian aid convoy that arrived in the region on Thursday was used as cover for bringing military supplies to the rebels.
Meanwhile separatist leaders in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk say two civilians were killed in clashes around the city's bitterly contested airport, AFP news agency reports.
The airport, just outside the city, has been battered by shelling for months.
A ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was agreed in September, but there have been many violations and tensions escalated when the separatists held elections condemned by Ukraine as illegal.
NATO has condemned Russia's involvement in Ukraine and has plans for a "high readiness force" that could be deployed rapidly to Eastern Europe.
The rebels seized official buildings in the east in April, soon after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
The rebels and Moscow accuse the pro-Western leaders in Kiev of having ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych illegally, and of threatening the rights of Russian-speakers.
The rebels control much of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
They accuse Ukraine of shelling residential areas of Donetsk indiscriminately from positions in and around the airport.
Four Ukrainian soldiers and two civilians have reportedly been killed in the latest violence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Officials said the spike in attacks followed the arrival of a Russian aid convoy in the region on Thursday.
The fighting comes ahead of peace talks mooted to take place next week.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet on Monday to discuss the crisis, according to the German foreign ministry.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in December that he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, the Kazakh capital, on 15 January alongside the German and French leaders.
However, officials in Germany and France have not confirmed this.
Ukrainian military officials said the soldiers had been killed following a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on army positions in eastern Ukraine.
They claim the Russian aid convoy that arrived in the region on Thursday was used as cover for bringing military supplies to the rebels.
Meanwhile separatist leaders in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk say two civilians were killed in clashes around the city's bitterly contested airport, AFP news agency reports.
The airport, just outside the city, has been battered by shelling for months.
A ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was agreed in September, but there have been many violations and tensions escalated when the separatists held elections condemned by Ukraine as illegal.
NATO has condemned Russia's involvement in Ukraine and has plans for a "high readiness force" that could be deployed rapidly to Eastern Europe.
The rebels seized official buildings in the east in April, soon after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
The rebels and Moscow accuse the pro-Western leaders in Kiev of having ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych illegally, and of threatening the rights of Russian-speakers.
The rebels control much of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
They accuse Ukraine of shelling residential areas of Donetsk indiscriminately from positions in and around the airport.
More Than One Million Flee, Ukraine Close To 'Humanitarian Catastrophe'
LONDON, England -- More than one million people have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Ukraine, hampering aid efforts and leaving the country on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe, aid agencies said on Thursday.
The number of people uprooted within Ukraine, 610,000, and of refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, 594,000, has more than tripled since August, figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show.
The U.N. said an estimated 5.2 million people in Ukraine were living in conflict zones, of whom 1.4 million were highly vulnerable and in need of assistance as they face financial problems, a lack of services and aid, and harsh winter conditions.
The conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists, killed almost 5,000 people last year and provoked the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Denis Krivosheev, deputy director of Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said residents in separatist-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk could barely afford food and medicines, especially vulnerable people such as pensioners.
"While it may be too early to call this a humanitarian catastrophe, it's clearly progressing in that direction," Krivosheev told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.
The provision of humanitarian aid was being hampered by volunteer battalions that were increasingly preventing food and medicine from reaching those in need in eastern Ukraine, he said.
"Attempting to create unbearable conditions of life is a whole new ballgame... using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime."
The battalions often act like "renegade gangs" and urgently need to be brought under control, Krivosheev added.
Social benefits, including pensions, have also become a major concern for those in eastern Ukraine following Kiev's decision to transfer the payments to government-controlled areas, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said those unable to leave their homes, such as the elderly and the sick, and people living in institutions were not receiving the help they needed.
The problem was made worse by the fact that humanitarian organizations had limited access to the areas controlled by armed groups fighting the government, he added.
The crisis blew up after street protests in Kiev overthrew the Moscow-backed president last February and a pro-Western leadership took over, committed to integrating the former Soviet republic into the European mainstream.
This set Kiev and the Western governments backing it at odds with Russia, Ukraine's former Soviet overlord, which wants to keep Ukraine within its political and economic orbit.
The number of people uprooted within Ukraine, 610,000, and of refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, 594,000, has more than tripled since August, figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show.
The U.N. said an estimated 5.2 million people in Ukraine were living in conflict zones, of whom 1.4 million were highly vulnerable and in need of assistance as they face financial problems, a lack of services and aid, and harsh winter conditions.
The conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists, killed almost 5,000 people last year and provoked the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Denis Krivosheev, deputy director of Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said residents in separatist-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk could barely afford food and medicines, especially vulnerable people such as pensioners.
"While it may be too early to call this a humanitarian catastrophe, it's clearly progressing in that direction," Krivosheev told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.
The provision of humanitarian aid was being hampered by volunteer battalions that were increasingly preventing food and medicine from reaching those in need in eastern Ukraine, he said.
"Attempting to create unbearable conditions of life is a whole new ballgame... using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime."
The battalions often act like "renegade gangs" and urgently need to be brought under control, Krivosheev added.
Social benefits, including pensions, have also become a major concern for those in eastern Ukraine following Kiev's decision to transfer the payments to government-controlled areas, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said those unable to leave their homes, such as the elderly and the sick, and people living in institutions were not receiving the help they needed.
The problem was made worse by the fact that humanitarian organizations had limited access to the areas controlled by armed groups fighting the government, he added.
The crisis blew up after street protests in Kiev overthrew the Moscow-backed president last February and a pro-Western leadership took over, committed to integrating the former Soviet republic into the European mainstream.
This set Kiev and the Western governments backing it at odds with Russia, Ukraine's former Soviet overlord, which wants to keep Ukraine within its political and economic orbit.
Russia Says Ukraine Has Violated Loan Terms: Agencies
KIEV, Ukraine -- - Ukraine has violated the terms of a $3 billion Russian loan but Moscow has not yet decided whether to demand early repayment, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted on Saturday as saying.
Russia lent the money in December 2013 by buying Ukrainian Eurobonds, two months before Ukraine's then-president, the pro-Moscow Viktor Yanukovich, fled the country amid mass protests against his rule.
The terms of the loan deal included a condition that Ukraine's total state debt should not exceed 60 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP).
Last month, rating agency Moody's estimated that Ukraine's debt amounted to 72 percent of GDP in 2014 and would rise to 83 percent in 2015.
It also said "the risk of default is rising".
"Ukraine has definitely violated the terms of the loan, and in particular (the condition) not to increase its state debt above 60 percent of GDP," Russia's Siluanov said, according to Interfax news agency.
"So Russia definitely has the right to demand early return of this loan. At the same time, at present this decision has not yet been taken."
Siluanov was commenting on earlier remarks by an anonymous government official saying that Russia was likely to demand early repayment as Ukraine had violated many of the loan terms.
Last November, President Vladimir Putin told German media that Russia did not intend to demand early repayment of Ukraine's debt as this would trigger the financial collapse of the former Soviet republic.
The Russian finance ministry was not immediately available on Saturday to comment on the reports.
The Russian remarks on the debt come ahead of key peace talks to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and may be intended to increase economic pressure on Kiev with a view to influencing those talks. Almost 5,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine since last April.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Berlin on Monday to discuss the conflict, with a summit between the four countries' leaders in Kazakhstan provisionally scheduled for Jan. 15.
The comments on Ukraine's debt also followed a downgrade overnight of Russia's credit rating by Fitch, underscoring Moscow's own deteriorating finances. Russian agencies cited an anonymous government official on Saturday as branding the Fitch downgrade "politically biased, not partner-like and economically absolutely unfounded".
Russia lent the money in December 2013 by buying Ukrainian Eurobonds, two months before Ukraine's then-president, the pro-Moscow Viktor Yanukovich, fled the country amid mass protests against his rule.
The terms of the loan deal included a condition that Ukraine's total state debt should not exceed 60 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP).
Last month, rating agency Moody's estimated that Ukraine's debt amounted to 72 percent of GDP in 2014 and would rise to 83 percent in 2015.
It also said "the risk of default is rising".
"Ukraine has definitely violated the terms of the loan, and in particular (the condition) not to increase its state debt above 60 percent of GDP," Russia's Siluanov said, according to Interfax news agency.
"So Russia definitely has the right to demand early return of this loan. At the same time, at present this decision has not yet been taken."
Siluanov was commenting on earlier remarks by an anonymous government official saying that Russia was likely to demand early repayment as Ukraine had violated many of the loan terms.
Last November, President Vladimir Putin told German media that Russia did not intend to demand early repayment of Ukraine's debt as this would trigger the financial collapse of the former Soviet republic.
The Russian finance ministry was not immediately available on Saturday to comment on the reports.
The Russian remarks on the debt come ahead of key peace talks to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and may be intended to increase economic pressure on Kiev with a view to influencing those talks. Almost 5,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine since last April.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Berlin on Monday to discuss the conflict, with a summit between the four countries' leaders in Kazakhstan provisionally scheduled for Jan. 15.
The comments on Ukraine's debt also followed a downgrade overnight of Russia's credit rating by Fitch, underscoring Moscow's own deteriorating finances. Russian agencies cited an anonymous government official on Saturday as branding the Fitch downgrade "politically biased, not partner-like and economically absolutely unfounded".
Ukraine’s Poles Pray For Warsaw Rescue
WARSAW, Poland -- They have been in limbo for weeks, nervously watching for a flare-up in the conflict and praying for a swift rescue.
“In the evening, the city dies, and no one leaves their homes. Everyone here is afraid for their life,” Victoria Kharchenko, a Ukrainian of Polish descent living in Donetsk told Polskie Radio last week.
Clutching a single large suitcase and proof of their Polish heritage, some 200 people of Polish descent will be airlifted out of Ukraine’s war-torn east in the coming days in a rescue mission arranged by Warsaw and charged with political and historic undercurrents.
The evacuees have been promised a one-way ticket out of the nine-month long conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, and a new life in a country they may never have previously visited.
One of the EU’s most vocal supporters of Ukraine in its conflict with pro-Russian forces, Poland will become the first European nation to attempt an evacuation from the contested region, as it seeks to promote itself as a key actor in the events determining the future of the country.
“Ukrainians are seen by the Poles as important neighbours, people very similar in terms of language, culture,” said Jaroslaw Cwiek-Karpowicz, head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
“Ukraine is perceived as a place that deserves our support . . . It is in our interests to support them.”
Despite multiple delays, officials in Warsaw this week insisted the evacuation was imminent, saying that they have specifically targeted the days before planned ceasefire talks on January 15 in Astana, when the conflict will probably be subdued.
“We are entering the decisive phase,” said Marcin Wojciechowski at Poland’s foreign ministry, which is co-ordinating the airlift.
A specific date for the evacuation, which will cost about €1million ($1.18 million), has been kept secret for security reasons.
The separatists may try to stop it or use it as an opportunity to attack representatives of an EU and NATO member state.
The rescue comes just weeks after Warsaw sent 40 trucks filled with food and humanitarian equipment to the conflict-wracked region, where a ceasefire agreed in September has failed to quell the fighting that began early last year and in which almost 5,000 people have been killed.
Neighbours and cultural cousins, Ukraine and Poland share centuries of history, with hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of their 330 mile long border claiming joint heritage.
But the two countries, which have also fought, invaded and attacked each other, share a bloody and painful history of forced repatriation across their frontier, most notably with the redrawing of eastern Europe’s boundaries in 1919 and 1945 and the subsequent, often violent, resettlement of people between countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Ukrainian president, in an address to the Polish parliament last month, cited both the two countries’ similar “souls and languages”, but also their “animosities and arguments . . . [and] episodes we would not like to even remember”.
The plight of those with Polish heritage caught in the crossfire between soldiers battling for control of eastern Ukraine has become an emotive political issue in Warsaw.
Last year nationalist opposition politicians attacked the government for its perceived inaction, sparking debate over Poland’s role in the region and its responsibility for the safety of its diaspora.
“[Today] Ukraine has become for some people in Poland a symbol of freedom . . . They feel like we have to fight for freedom in our neighbourhood,” said Andrzej Szeptycki, assistant professor at the University of Warsaw.
Fears that an evacuation mission would be attacked made the Polish government reluctant to act.
But the debate over the merits and risks of an evacuation became moot on December 3, when a Polish citizen who had been living in Donetsk for more than 25 years died after being shot by separatists.
His death forced Warsaw’s hand.
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz initially promised that the evacuees would be in Poland before Christmas, a pledge that was pushed back to the end of December and then into January.
Last weekend, congregations at Roman Catholic churches in the Donetsk region were told to be ready to evacuate soon, while the Polish consulate in Kharkiv has opened a telephone helpline to allow potential evacuees to confirm their seat on the airlift.
Those requesting evacuation must either be holders of a Karta Polaka — an identification card issued to people with Polish heritage — or be able to provide other proof of Polish parents or grandparents.
At one stage, as many as 4,000 Poles, initially attracted to the region by its heavy industry and coal deposits, were estimated to live around Donetsk.
But many have already left and by January only 205 people qualified for the airlift.
Wary of the risks of sending official representatives into the area controlled by pro-Russian forces, Poland has instead requested the evacuees make their way west into Ukrainian-controlled territory, from where they will be taken by foreign ministry officials to aircraft commissioned to fly them to Malbork, a military airfield in northern Poland.
Upon arrival, the migrants will be given six months of free accommodation, language and adaptation courses, school places for children and professional training to enable them to find jobs and permanent housing in the country.
We will do it, we are enthusiastic about it. We are happy that persons of Polish origin will be able to feel safe in Poland,” said Poland's interior minister Teresa Piotrowska.
“In the evening, the city dies, and no one leaves their homes. Everyone here is afraid for their life,” Victoria Kharchenko, a Ukrainian of Polish descent living in Donetsk told Polskie Radio last week.
Clutching a single large suitcase and proof of their Polish heritage, some 200 people of Polish descent will be airlifted out of Ukraine’s war-torn east in the coming days in a rescue mission arranged by Warsaw and charged with political and historic undercurrents.
The evacuees have been promised a one-way ticket out of the nine-month long conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, and a new life in a country they may never have previously visited.
One of the EU’s most vocal supporters of Ukraine in its conflict with pro-Russian forces, Poland will become the first European nation to attempt an evacuation from the contested region, as it seeks to promote itself as a key actor in the events determining the future of the country.
“Ukrainians are seen by the Poles as important neighbours, people very similar in terms of language, culture,” said Jaroslaw Cwiek-Karpowicz, head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
“Ukraine is perceived as a place that deserves our support . . . It is in our interests to support them.”
Despite multiple delays, officials in Warsaw this week insisted the evacuation was imminent, saying that they have specifically targeted the days before planned ceasefire talks on January 15 in Astana, when the conflict will probably be subdued.
“We are entering the decisive phase,” said Marcin Wojciechowski at Poland’s foreign ministry, which is co-ordinating the airlift.
A specific date for the evacuation, which will cost about €1million ($1.18 million), has been kept secret for security reasons.
The separatists may try to stop it or use it as an opportunity to attack representatives of an EU and NATO member state.
The rescue comes just weeks after Warsaw sent 40 trucks filled with food and humanitarian equipment to the conflict-wracked region, where a ceasefire agreed in September has failed to quell the fighting that began early last year and in which almost 5,000 people have been killed.
Neighbours and cultural cousins, Ukraine and Poland share centuries of history, with hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of their 330 mile long border claiming joint heritage.
But the two countries, which have also fought, invaded and attacked each other, share a bloody and painful history of forced repatriation across their frontier, most notably with the redrawing of eastern Europe’s boundaries in 1919 and 1945 and the subsequent, often violent, resettlement of people between countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Ukrainian president, in an address to the Polish parliament last month, cited both the two countries’ similar “souls and languages”, but also their “animosities and arguments . . . [and] episodes we would not like to even remember”.
The plight of those with Polish heritage caught in the crossfire between soldiers battling for control of eastern Ukraine has become an emotive political issue in Warsaw.
Last year nationalist opposition politicians attacked the government for its perceived inaction, sparking debate over Poland’s role in the region and its responsibility for the safety of its diaspora.
“[Today] Ukraine has become for some people in Poland a symbol of freedom . . . They feel like we have to fight for freedom in our neighbourhood,” said Andrzej Szeptycki, assistant professor at the University of Warsaw.
Fears that an evacuation mission would be attacked made the Polish government reluctant to act.
But the debate over the merits and risks of an evacuation became moot on December 3, when a Polish citizen who had been living in Donetsk for more than 25 years died after being shot by separatists.
His death forced Warsaw’s hand.
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz initially promised that the evacuees would be in Poland before Christmas, a pledge that was pushed back to the end of December and then into January.
Last weekend, congregations at Roman Catholic churches in the Donetsk region were told to be ready to evacuate soon, while the Polish consulate in Kharkiv has opened a telephone helpline to allow potential evacuees to confirm their seat on the airlift.
Those requesting evacuation must either be holders of a Karta Polaka — an identification card issued to people with Polish heritage — or be able to provide other proof of Polish parents or grandparents.
At one stage, as many as 4,000 Poles, initially attracted to the region by its heavy industry and coal deposits, were estimated to live around Donetsk.
But many have already left and by January only 205 people qualified for the airlift.
Wary of the risks of sending official representatives into the area controlled by pro-Russian forces, Poland has instead requested the evacuees make their way west into Ukrainian-controlled territory, from where they will be taken by foreign ministry officials to aircraft commissioned to fly them to Malbork, a military airfield in northern Poland.
Upon arrival, the migrants will be given six months of free accommodation, language and adaptation courses, school places for children and professional training to enable them to find jobs and permanent housing in the country.
We will do it, we are enthusiastic about it. We are happy that persons of Polish origin will be able to feel safe in Poland,” said Poland's interior minister Teresa Piotrowska.
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