International push to save Ukraine ceasefire

SLAVYANSK: International efforts to save Ukraine´s fragile ceasefire are set to intensify Wednesday as Kiev threatens to scrap the truce after pro-Russian rebels downed an army helicopter.

Nine servicemen were killed when the Mi-8 helicopter was brought down Tuesday, underscoring the limited control both Russia and senior rebel leaders seem to have over some militia units that are apparently operating according to their own rules in Ukraine´s heavily Russified rustbelt.

It also threatens to quash budding hopes that Ukraine´s Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko -- having ordered a one-week unilateral ceasefire on Friday that the rebels accepted on Monday -- will be able to negotiate an end to 11 weeks of violence that have claimed 435 lives, according to UN figures and an AFP count.

Poroshenko said he hoped to discuss the latest incident with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a teleconference Wednesday that would also be joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend NATO talks in Brussels which will be "very, very focused on the situation in Ukraine," a US official said.

The White House on Tuesday welcomed Putin´s call to his lawmakers to revoke his authorisation to invade Ukraine.

The Kremlin chief´s decision came with Russia facing the threat of devastating Western economic sanctions unless Putin took immediate steps to de-escalate the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

And as the diplomatic flurry continues, Kerry will hold his first bilateral meeting with new Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.

Ukraine is asking for extra support from NATO to quell the separatists who have seized control of parts of eastern Ukraine.

The Donetsk region where the helicopter was hit and the neighbouring Lugansk province proclaimed independence in May in the wake of the February ouster in Kiev of a pro-Russian Ukraine president.

After the deadly attack on the helicopter Poroshenko announced he was ready to scrap the ceasefire and relaunch the eastern campaign with renewed force.

"The head of state does not exclude that the ceasefire regime may be revoked ahead of schedule in view of its constant violation by rebels who are controlled from abroad," his office said in a statement.