Ceasefire at Risk as Fighting Over East Ukraine’s Donetsk Airport Escalates

US Demands Russia Force Rebels Away from Airport

A week of fighting in the eastern Ukrainian rebel capital of Donetsk continued through Friday, with the main clashes again focused on the military-held airport, as rebel tanks tried to push into the area.

The fighting in Donetsk continues to strain the ceasefire across eastern Ukraine, though so far the clashes seem confined to the city itself, with the rest of the region still relatively calm.

While the rebels have pushed toward the airport, the military has shelled rebel-held residential areas in the city, killing 11 people over the course of the week, including 10 on Wednesday.

The US, as it so often does in the case of Ukraine flareups, blamed the situation on Russia, and the State Department demanded that Russia intervene to stop the rebels from attacking the airport.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.