KIEV: It was always an uncomfortable paradox for Ukraine’s warring sides; while Kiev and Russian-backed rebels battled each other for nearly three years, trade kept flowing across the frontline.
Now even those tenuous links have finally ruptured after Ukraine’s leader Petro Poroshenko ordered a halt to all goods deliveries to the eastern separatist regions, ramping up tensions in the festering conflict.
The move was a last resort for Kiev, as coal from their former industrial heartland remains a key energy source and authorities are reluctant to sever the few threads binding the insurgent fiefdoms to Ukraine.
But Poroshenko’s hand was forced after irate nationalist protesters imposed their own trade blockade and the rebels responded by seizing Ukrainian enterprises on their turf and stopping supplies to government areas.
“Thanks to the joint efforts of those behind the blockade and the terrorists, Ukraine lost its businesses and this created a whole new reality, ”Poroshenko told security chiefs on Wednesday. “The decision that we have had to take is not an easy one.”
The sudden collapse in trade ties between the two sides has sparked fears among Kiev’s Western allies that it will now be even harder to make peace in Ukraine, with a European-brokered plan to end the conflict long stalled.
EU ambassador Hugues Mingarelli said that Poroshenko’s decision “is not going in this direction” towards reconciliation.
The Kremlin — which Ukraine and the West see as the puppet master of the rebellion — blasted Kiev for trying to wreck the peace deal.
“Such actions aimed at cutting off whole regions of the country will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
