New Ukraine peace talks fail to halt escalating clashes

Ukraine on Tuesday reported the death of two soldiers as a fresh round of European-mediated talks with pro-Russian insurgents failed to break the deadlock over the future status of eastern separatist enclaves.

A top rebel negotiator described the meeting in the Belarussian capital Minsk as too inconclusive to end the 14-month war and its current upsurge in violence.

"We have made certain positive steps, but unfortunately, this is not (the outcome) we had hoped for," Denis Pushilin told reporters.

"We are not satisfied with the current rate of progress," said Pushilin. "With progress like this, the chances of a complete political settlement of the conflict are in grave doubt."

But he added that the sides had agreed to gather again in Minsk next Tuesday and all remained on speaking terms.

The meeting mediated by an increasingly frustrated team from the OSCE European security body came as the threat of all-out fighting resuming on the outer edge of the European Union's eastern flank appeared to grow by the day.

Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the two soldiers died when government forces came under particularly heavy fire from 122-millimetre howitzers in the rebel-controlled province of Lugansk.

Separatist commander Eduard Basurin said three of his fighters and five civilians were also wounded in the neighbouring rebel-run region of Donetsk.

The two predominantly Russian-speaking provinces -- once the heart of Ukraine's now-shattered coal and steel industry -- have been waging a war for independence from Kiev's new pro-Western leadership since March 2014.

The campaign has claimed the lives of nearly 6,500 and driven more than a million people from their homes.

It has also exposed the Kremlin to Western charges of trying to either regain control -- or leave permanently damaged -- Russia's former-Soviet neighbour to the south west.

Moscow's relations with the West are now at a post-Cold War era low. Russia's gradually shrinking economy has also suffered from sanctions imposed by Ukraine's allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who denies playing any role in the 14-month conflict -- signed on to a February truce deal with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in the Belarussian capital Minsk that was co-sponsored by the leaders of Germany and France.

The ceasefire immediately helped limit the fighting to a few hotspots and breathed new life into hopes of peace.

But several rounds of follow-on talks between the warring sides' envoys failed to put any meat on the bones of the loosely-worded Minsk plan.

- Deadlocked debate -

Putin said on Tuesday that he saw "no alternative" to the stuttering negotiating process.

"Despite the  difficulties, we must continue following this path," Putin said while hosting Finnish Sauli Niinisto at his suburban Moscow residence.

But Kiev and the insurgents still fail see eye to eye on such basic issues as where exactly the truce line keeping apart the two sides runs.

The separatists also want to hold quick local elections that would cement their semi-autonomous status within a unified Ukraine.

But Kiev insists that no such vote can be held until Ukraine secures full control of the Russian border and "all foreign armed formations" leave the war zone by the end of the year.

The disputes culminated in a disastrous meeting last month in which the Russian envoy left the room early and the chief OSCE mediator submitted her resignation papers shortly after.

The OSCE's Heidi Tagliavini attended Tuesday's negotiations but is likely to be replaced by the end of the month.

Kiev is represented by former president Leonid Kuchma while Russia has appointed a new Kremlin envoy -- veteran diplomat Azamat Kulmukhametov who Ukrainian media believe has adopted a much tougher approach to the West.

A source close to Kuchma told the Ukraine-Interfax news agency that Kiev's latest proposals fell on deaf ears.

"We are talking about not just a lack of an adequate response to the Ukrainian proposals, but of even constructive counter-proposals," the Ukrainian negotiating side's source said.
Source: AFP