ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine: After fending off attacks during a three-day weekend ceasefire declared by Russia, some Ukrainian soldiers fighting near the front line had advice for their president, Volodymyr Zelensky: don’t talk to Moscow until Russian troops withdraw.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine just over an hour after his ceasefire ended, something Zelensky said was possible, but only after Moscow agreed to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday.
Preparing drones to observe Russian troop movements as the ceasefire was ending, the commander of a drone unit in Ukraine’s national guard, using the call sign Chepa, told Reuters any talks could only start with a full Russian withdrawal to Ukraine’s borders when the country won independence in 1991.
“As a soldier and a citizen of Ukraine I believe that before we sit down at the negotiation table we should go back to the borders of 1991,” Chepa said in a bunker near the front line.
“That’s it. Full withdrawal of all troops from the territory of Ukraine. Then when we can talk. Whatever he (Putin) is thinking of, take certain regions or divide territories, nobody has given him the right to do it.”
Chepa’s views were echoed by others in the unit.
Russia occupies nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory and has repeatedly said Kyiv must recognize the “reality on the ground.”
Zelensky has acknowledged that at least some of Ukraine’s occupied territory will have to be retaken through diplomacy. But Kyiv cannot legally recognize Russian control over any Ukrainian territory because of the constitution.
Zelensky has said any discussion about territory can only take place after a ceasefire is in place.
Putin used a late night press conference to make his proposal for talks, which he said, should be based on a draft deal negotiated in 2022, under which Ukraine would agree to permanent neutrality.
That would contradict Ukraine’s constitution, amended in 2019 to include the goal of “fully-fledged membership” of NATO.
Zelensky received a show of support from European powers on Saturday, when the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland backed an unconditional ceasefire beginning on Monday.
Chepa said he also wanted negotiations but feared they would never come about.
“Yes, we do need negotiations. But he (Putin) is scared of talks,” Chepa said, adding his brigade had seen no evidence of a ceasefire over the weekend.
“We have not seen any ceasefire, there were continuous attacks by howitzers, rocket launchers, they used it all. We have not experienced any ceasefire.”
The Russian movements continued into Sunday, after the Russian-declared ceasefire ran out at midnight (2100 GMT), when the reconnaissance drones flew over a nearby village.
“There is a lot of movement there of military as well as civilian vehicles,” Chepa said. “Interesting that so close to the contact line there is a civilian car. Not damaged, mind you. They must be making good use of it.”
Some Ukrainian soldiers say Russians must withdraw before any peace talks
https://arab.news/jvb29
Some Ukrainian soldiers say Russians must withdraw before any peace talks
- Soldiers in drone unit say Russians must withdraw before peace talks
- Insist Russia pull back to Ukraine’s 1991 borders and say there was no three-day ceasefire
Agonizing wait as Switzerland works to identify New Year’s fire victims
- Authorities begin moving bodies from burned-out bar in luxury ski resor Crans-Montana
- At least 40 people were killed in one of Switzerland's worst tragedies
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland: Families endured an agonizing wait for news of their loved ones Friday as Swiss investigators rushed to identify victims of a ski resort fire at a New Year’s celebration that killed at least 40 people.
Authorities began moving bodies from the burned-out bar in the luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana late Friday morning, with the first silver-colored hearse rolling into the funeral center in nearby Sion shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), AFP journalists saw.
Around 115 people were also injured in the fire, many of them critical condition.
As the scope of the tragedy — one of Switzerland’s worst — began to sink in, Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence.
“The atmosphere is heavy,” Dejan Bajic, a 56-year-old tourist from Geneva who has been coming to the resort since 1974, told AFP.
“It’s like a small village; everyone knows someone who knows someone who’s been affected,” he said.
It is not yet clear what set off the blaze at Le Constellation, a bar popular with young tourists, at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) Thursday.
Bystanders described scenes of panic and chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.
‘Screaming in pain’
Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he had seen “bodies lying here, ... covered with a white sheet,” and “young people, totally burned, who were still alive... Screaming in pain.”
The exact death toll was still being established.
And it could rise, with canton president Mathias Reynard telling the regional newspaper Wallizer Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition.
Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, an agonizing wait for family and friends.
Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV, who offered “compassion and solidarity” to victims’ families.
Online, desperate appeals abound to find the missing.
“We’ve tried to reach our friends. We took loads of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible social networks to try to find them,” said Eleonore, 17. “But there’s nothing. No response.”
‘The apocalypse’
The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear.
Le Constellation had a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office on Thursday, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast for five days.
“We thought it was just a small fire — but when we got there, it was war,” Mathys, from the neighboring village of Chermignon-d’en-Bas, told AFP. “That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse.”
Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.
Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, pointed to sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a regular “show” for patrons.
‘Dramatic’
Pictures and videos shared on social media also showed sparklers on champagne bottles held into the air, as an orange glow began spreading across the ceiling.
One video showed the flames advancing quickly as revellers initially continued to dance.
One young man playfully attempted to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth, but the scene became panic-stricken as people scrambled and screamed in the dark against a backdrop of smoke and flames.
The canton’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said investigators would examine whether the bar met safety standards.
Red and white caution tape, flowers and candles adorned the street outside, while police shielded the site with white screens.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said 13 Italians had been injured in the fire, and six remained missing, was among those to lay flowers at the site.
The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens figured among the injured, and eight others remained unaccounted for.
After emergency units at local hospitals filled, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland and beyond.
Patients are being treated in Italy, France and Germany, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country was ready to provide “specialized medical care to 14 injured.”
Multiple sources told AFP the bar owners were French nationals: a couple originally from Corsica who, according to a relative, are safe, but have been unreachable since the tragedy.
