• Says, “We will attack and we will free our country.”
A woman cries near her burning house after shelling in the city of Slovyansk, Donetsk Region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, June 30, 2014. AP
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he is halting a unilateral cease-fire in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists and says Ukrainian forces will go on the offensive against the rebels.
A statement from Poroshenko on his website says the cease-fire is being halted and that “we will attack and we will free our country.”
The fragile cease-fire expired Monday night. The idea was to give rebels a chance to disarm and to start a broader peace process including an amnesty and new elections.
But rebels did not disarm, and the ceasefire was continually violated. Rebels did not comply with Poroshenko’s latest push to get them to turn over key border crossings with Russia and permit international monitoring of the cease-fire.