DONETSK, Ukraine -- The winner of Ukraine's presidential election said Monday that he wants to begin talks with Moscow and end a pro-Russian insurgency in the east, but the conflict there escalated as rebels occupied a major airport and the government in Kiev responded with an airstrike.
Fighter jets screamed and automatic gunfire popped as Ukrainian soldiers fought around the Donetsk airport against the separatists, who have taken over two eastern Ukrainian provinces.
After fighting that lasted into a rainy evening, the military appeared to have evicted the separatists from the airport, cordoning off the area with roadblocks. The airport remained closed.
The fighting began shortly after 1 p.m. when gunfire tore through a grassy area in front of the airport near a Toyota dealership, and a man in a blue uniform ran for cover as the fighting cascaded out the airport's main gate. Thick black smoke dotted the sky.
A spokesman for the military said the operation was intended to "clear the territory."
There was no immediate indication that the Ukrainian offensive extended farther than the strategically important airport area.
Hundreds of fighters of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic had been taken by truck to a wooded area on the fringes of the airport, many of them armed with rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and automatic rifles. At least one warplane streaked over the city, firing flares, and explosions were heard near the airport.
Early today, the separatist group said on its Twitter account that a truck carrying wounded from the airport area came under fire and that the driver was killed.
The seizure of the airport suggested an escalation by the militants, who in recent days have appeared to lose the political support of the Kremlin, which indicated that it would respect the results of Sunday's election.
The insurgency is likely to struggle without the backing of Russia. But support can come in many ways, and it is far from clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to give up what appears to be a useful geopolitical lever: violence and instability in Ukraine's east that has left the West flustered.
"What Putin wants is for Ukraine to be weak," said Lucan Way, a political scientist at the University of Toronto who specializes in Ukraine and has lived in Donetsk. "Just because he gives verbal support for the new Ukrainian government does not mean that he will stop trying to foment unrest in the east."
In the current situation, Putin "gets to look like a statesman" and blame the new government for whatever problems emerge, Way said. At the same time, Putin does not directly control events on the ground.
"He has created a Frankenstein that he cannot control and may not even want to," Way said.
Still, rebels seemed shaken by their isolation. At the Donetsk government headquarters that they have occupied and fortified with barbed wire and old tires, nervous separatists briefed journalists.
Denis Pushilin, the speaker of the Donetsk People's Republic, said the rebel troops posted Sunday night to guard the building against attack had been fired upon by government forces.
"We must defend ourselves," Pushilin said. "This is an important attack against a strategically important building."
He said he did not expect an immediate attack on the headquarters but called on Putin directly for help.
"I am forced to appeal directly to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for any possible aid," he said. When asked what kind of aid -- military or economic -- he said, "Any."
The rebels, who declared independence for Donetsk and the neighboring Luhansk region after a hastily called referendum two weeks ago, regarded Sunday's election of candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko as president to be illegitimate.
With votes from 75 percent of the precincts counted, Poroshenko was leading with about 54 percent in the field of 21 candidates, which would allow him to avoid a runoff election next month. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was running a distant second with 13 percent. Election officials said official results would be announced by June 5.
In a victory speech, the billionaire promised to open a dialogue with residents in eastern Ukraine and to guarantee their rights. The rebels and many others in the region say they fear that the February ouster of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych will lead to the repression of the predominantly Russian-speaking population by Ukrainian nationalists.
Poroshenko also said he would not negotiate with armed insurgents, whom he calls terrorists.
"Peace can only be achieved through a dialogue with people," he said Monday. "This process cannot be stopped with the use of arms only; arms can be used exclusively against killers and terrorists."
Russia has heavily criticized an offensive by the Ukrainian military against the rebels, and Poroshenko indicated he wants it to end quickly.
"The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months," he said. "It should and will last hours."
But aggression by rebels, as at the Donetsk airport, could make it impossible for Ukrainian forces to back off.
Pushilin said the separatists sent their men to the airport after some of their supporters were detained, but news reports cited the airport's news service as saying the insurgents were demanding Ukrainian forces be withdrawn from around the facility.
Donetsk news outlets, citing an unidentified health official, reported that two people were injured and one person killed by gunfire at the city's main train station. In Slovyansk, a city about 60 miles to the north that has seen sustained clashes, an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of an elderly woman and a young man after mortar fire from a government position.
In the Kievsky neighborhood in the northern part of Donetsk, the boom of artillery startled pedestrians who were unsure of the source of the shelling. A small gathering of neighbors on Krupskaya Street, a few minutes' drive from the airport entrance, were discussing the events as fighter jets made a loud scraping sound over the small brick houses and lush yards planted with roses.
"It's a mess; it's anarchy," said Yevgeny Kaplenko, a retired welder. "This is going to be a second Transnistria," he said, referring to the breakaway area within Moldova, on Ukraine's southwestern border. "That's what awaits us."
Poroshenko, known for his pragmatism, supports building strong ties with Europe but also has stressed the importance of mending relations with Moscow. Upon claiming victory, he said his first step as president would be to visit the east.
He said he hoped that Russia would support his efforts to produce stability and that he wanted to hold talks with Moscow.
Russia denies allegations that it supports or directs the insurgents. But Russia is pushing for Ukraine to decentralize its government, which would give more power to the regions including the east, and wants Kiev to withdraw its troops from the area. Russia massed its troops near the Ukrainian border, but Putin said last week that those forces were being pulled back to their home bases.
After Russia annexed the southern region of Crimea from Ukraine in March, many Ukrainians feared Moscow wanted to invade the east.
In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the country appreciated Poroshenko's statements about the importance of Ukraine's ties with Russia and his pledge to negotiate an end to the fighting.
"We are ready for dialogue with representatives of Kiev, with Petro Poroshenko," Lavrov said at a briefing, adding it was a chance that "cannot be wasted." He emphasized that Moscow saw no need for any involvement by the U.S. or the European Union in those talks.
"We don't need any mediators," he said.
The rebels had vowed to block the election in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and more than 80 percent of the polling stations were closed there after gunmen intimidated residents by smashing ballot boxes, shutting down voting centers and issuing threats.
But nationwide, about 60 percent of Ukraine's 35.5 million eligible voters turned out, and long lines were reported at polling stations in the capital.
In Kiev, Sunday's presidential balloting was praised by international observers as a "genuine election" that was held freely and fairly.
Joao Soares, special coordinator for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's observer mission in Kiev, hailed the vote and the "clear resolve of the authorities, which resulted in a genuine election largely in line with international commitments."
"Ukrainian authorities should be commended for their efforts in the extraordinary circumstances to facilitate an election" that was held in parts of Ukraine's volatile east, Soares said.
He said monitors saw multiple threats as well as intimidation and abduction of election officials in the east.
Information for this article was contributed by Peter Leonard, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov, Lynn Berry, Laura Mills and Alexander Zemlianichenko of The Associated Press and by Sabrina Tavernise, Andrew Roth, David M. Herszenhorn, Mauricio Lima and Neil MacFarquhar of The New York Times.
A Section on 05/27/2014
