Ukraine warned today that its offensive against pro-Russian insurgents may last another month and rejected calls for a ceasefire as it moved tanks to within striking distance of the rebels' two remaining strongholds.
An AFP team over 20 kilometres south of the eastern hub of Donetsk, to which most of the militias have retreated, saw heavy armoured vehicles fan out across the rolling corn and sunflower fields of the economically-vital rustbelt.
A vast column of tanks and military vehicles arrived in the area yesterday in an apparent push to surround Donetsk and the neighbouring city of Lugansk, also controlled by the separatists.
An earthmover's engine stuttered in the stifling heat as it dug trenches to help troops dodge artillery strikes from thousands of insurgents who are refusing to give up their bloody three-month drive to join Russian rule.
"We arrived here last night," said a balaclava-wearing soldier named Yuriy as his comrades stretched electric cables to a nearby farm to power up their equipment. He remained tight-lipped about his unit's immediate plans but vowed to fulfil "all orders".
The Ukrainian military said three servicemen had been killed and 27 wounded in the previous 24 hours. Two died when their armoured vehicle hit one of the numerous land mines the separatists have planted to ward off Kiev's relentless advance.
"We can now make a forecast about how long it will take to pull troops back from Donetsk and Lugansk," Ukrainian interior minister advisor Stanislav Rechinsky said in reference to the capitals of the two separatist regions.
"Presumably, this can be done within a month," he told Ukrainian state television.
Rechinsky also said "there will be no air or artillery strikes" against either city because of the inevitable toll in a low-scale war that has already claimed more than 500 lives.
Fears of an all-out assault on the two densely populated centres have redoubled European efforts to force Kiev to negotiate truce terms that could help calm the most explosive East-West standoff in Europe since the Cold War.
