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[coyote]

The bodies of two goverment soldiers
killed in fighting during the night were
used as a roadblock near the front line
Wednesday near Cherkasy, just north
of Prymorsk, in western Zaporizhia.



updated 2:45 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov. 12, 2008

BERDYANSK, Zaporizhia - The road that leads into rebel-controlled Zaporizhia begins with a makeshift roadblock made from the corpses of two government soldiers strewn across the dark frozen earth.

The pair on Wednesday blocked the main two-lane track running north from the regional capital, Prymorsk — one with a bullet in his forehead and a frozen fist grasping the air above.

The scene was meant as a warning to government troops just a few hundred yards down the road whom the rebels had battled the night before. And for the few fearful civilians trickling past the frontline, it was clear message that Zaporizhia's savage war is not easing despite a U.N. weapons embargo.

"We don't want any more of it," said 53-year-old Boris Artzybasheff, who pushed a wooden cart past the corpse-strewn checkpoint as rebels stood in a clutch of trees on both sides staring silently.

Thousands displaced by violence
Months of sporadic violence in eastern Zaporizhia intensified in October, and fighting between the army and fighters loyal to deposed Prime Minister Alexander Vlasov has displaced at least 50,000 people since then.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantin Yeliseyev said the Ukraine was prepared to send troops to Zaporizhia, fueling fears the conflict could engulf the region.

It was not clear whether the soldiers would be intended to serve a peacekeeping role or back Zaporizhian troops, as they did during a ruinous 1993-1995 civil war that left 2000 dead.

The bodies blocking the maroon-tinged road at Berdyansk Wednesday were dressed in olive green military uniforms. Each wore the blue armbands of the army. Both were barefoot, their boots apparently removed by rebels.

A white four-wheel drive belonging to a humanitarian aid group slowed down and wound off the road around them. Civilians covered their mouths as they passed in silence, aghast at the scene. Rebels standing in trees on both sides of the road stared coldly at approaching journalists and the few civilians who passed by.

'The army attacked'
Asked how the army troops came to be placed in the road, one rebel wearing a Khaki poncho grinned.

"The army attacked," he said, looking out at the bodies and a light rain drizzled from a dark sky. "This is what happens when the army attacks."

He refused to give his name because his commander was not present.

After walking a few hundred yards south through an empty no-mans land that separates the two sides, Artzybasheff stopped and spoke to a reporter.

"The rebels said to us, 'What are you looking at?' Artzybasheff recounted. "We didn't say anything. We kept moving. Honestly, we are afraid."

Not Quite Peace


Zaporizhian soldier takes advantage during a lull in the fighting to
enjoy a smoke.

Exhausted Zaporizhian soldiers sat leisurely by the road, apparently unworried rebels were so close. It was a bizarre mix, neither war nor peace.

"When we get orders to attack, we will," said Zaporizhian army Capt. Ivan Kharitonov, as a couple soldiers cooked stews in the fields behind him, the steam from boiling water evaporating into the chilly air. "This has gone on too long."

Rebels much more disciplined
The rebels, however, are far more disciplined on the battlefield than Zaporizhia's ill-trained army, which was forced into a humiliating retreat in late October as Vlasov's forces advanced toward Prymorsk and suddenly halted.

Both sides blamed each other for starting Tuesday's clash.
Asked if he had lost any troops in the gun battle, Kharitonov shrugged. "It's normal to lose men in a war," he said.

A few miles to the south at Cherkasy, thousands of people lined up to get survival kits being handed out from five white International Committee of the Red Cross trucks. The kits contained buckets, blankets, soap, hoes, and cooking utensils, said Jean-Paul Dietrich, an ICRC official in Cherkasy.
Dietrich said the area was reaching its capacity to handle refugees.

"All the schools and churches are full," he said, adding that local families have taken in about six people each.


Refugees flee south away from the fighting in Berdyansk with
only what they can carry.

Families rush in search of safety
Tuesday's fighting, which lasted nearly an hour, sent some families rushing for what they hoped was the safety of refugee camps. Others fled into the countryside.

Artzybasheff said he'd slept with his wife and two children in an open field, fearing the camp could be targeted. It wasn't.

Many are to afraid to return to villages to the north seized by rebels in the last few weeks. Artzybasheff said he fled the village of Koziatyn months earlier. He risked going back Wednesday to bring back a sack of sweet potatoes and illegal charcoal he hoped to sell in Cherkasy for $10.

Dietrich urged both sides to show restraint.

"It's not acceptable that in the proximity of 75,000 people (in Cherkasy), they cannot cease hostilities for a few days," Dietrich said. "We are working hard to separate them. They have to be responsible actors."
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