DONETSK // Pro-Russian separatists have vowed to mobilise up to 100,000 fighters for their latest east Ukraine offensive as the United States considered sending weapons to the country’s outgunned government forces.
The rebels’ pledge came as their fighters battled to surround the beleaguered city of Debaltseve, a major rail and road junction, about 70 kilometres north-east of the separatists’ self-proclaimed capital, Donetsk.
“There will be general mobilisation in the (separatist) Donetsk People’s Republic in 10 days’ time, we plan on mobilising up to 100,000 men,” rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko told the separatist news agency DAN on Monday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin was quoted by the TASS state news agency as saying he was “extremely concerned” by the situation.
Ukrainian army spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the rebel call-up meant they “don’t have the human resources and haven’t achieved their objectives, that is taking the strategic town” of Debaltseve.
It comes after Ukrainian authorities said at the end of January that they were calling up 50,000 troops in the face of the rebels’ latest offensive.
Fighting in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland has intensified in recent days, after the latest attempt at truce talks collapsed on Saturday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
On Tuesday, Kiev military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that five Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 27 wounded in the last 24 hours.
It came the day after Mr Lysenko said the centre of Debaltseve had been shelled and that government reinforcements had launched a counter-attack to stop rebels encircling the town.
Meanwhile, rebel leaders said on Monday that 92 of their fighters were killed and 411 injured in January, while 242 civilians had died.
The rebels say they want to redraw the demarcation line agreed in a September ceasefire deal to include gains they have made since ripping up the truce and pushing further into Ukrainian territory.
“We are ready to stop, but only if we remain where we are now,” Mr Zakharchenko said on Monday.
In Donetsk, military-age males met the separatist leader’s call-up with scepticism.
“I wouldn’t give it too much credence,” said Alexander, a 28-year-old transport manager, who supports the rebels but feels that Mr Zakharchenko is “losing the backing of those who supported him”.
Web designer Vitaly, meanwhile, said the call-up would lead nowhere.
“Every day, I feel a little bit more a hostage [of the separatist authorities],” the 24-year-old said.
The surge in fighting comes as Washington and Nato's military commander appear to be moving towards supplying arms to Ukrainian forces, The New York Times said on Sunday.
President Barack Obama’s administration was considering whether to provide “lethal assistance”, in addition to the non-lethal aid such as body armour and medical equipment which it already supplies to Kiev, it said.
"A comprehensive approach is warranted, and we agree that defensive equipment and weapons should be part of that discussion," a Pentagon official told the Times.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to fly to Kiev on Thursday to pledge Washington’s support for the Ukrainian government during talks with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Western governments and Ukraine have accused Russia of sending troops and arms to bolster the rebels and of spearheading their latest onslaught – claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.
The rebels, however, are equipped with the heavy weaponry of a regular army, hardware they claim to have captured from fleeing Ukrainian forces.
The latest attempt at a negotiated ceasefire collapsed on Saturday, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – which is involved in the talks along with Russia – saying the rebels “were not even prepared to discuss implementation of a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons”.
Last week, the European Union extended through to September a first wave of targeted sanctions it had placed on Moscow and Crimean leaders in the wake of Russia’s seizure of the Crimean peninsula in March.
But deep divisions within the EU meant that there was no agreement on expanding broad sanctions targeting Russia’s economy.
* Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Reuters