By Thomas Grove and Mark Trevelyan
June 2, 2014
DONETSK
Ukraine/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukrainian authorities on
Monday of escalating violence against civilians in the rebel-held east
of the country, even as it offered Kiev a brief respite in a dispute
over billions of dollars' worth of unpaid gas bills.
In the latest fighting, Ukrainian border guards said a pro-Russian
militia had attacked one of their posts with automatic weapons and
grenade launchers in the early hours, triggering a battle that was still
raging many hours later.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of fuelling the pro-Russian
uprising that threatens to break up the former Soviet republic of 45
million people. Russia denies orchestrating the unrest, and says
Ukraine's attempts to end it by military force are making the situation
worse.
Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would submit a draft resolution to
the United Nations Security Council later on Monday, calling for an
immediate end to the violence and the creation of humanitarian corridors
to help civilians escape the fighting.
In pointed comments aimed at newly elected Ukrainian president Petro
Poroshenko, Lavrov said that Western nations had assured Russia the
situation in Ukraine would improve after the May 25 election that
brought him to power. Instead of that, he said, "everything is happening
in exactly the opposite way".
