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By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004; Page A16
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KIEV, Ukraine, April 12 -- As mortar shells fell around them, a detachment
of Ukrainian soldiers beat a hasty retreat last week, abandoning the Iraqi
city of Kut to insurgents in a significant setback to the U.S.-led
occupation forces.
With one of their own dead and five others injured, the Ukrainians pulled
back to the relative security of a base camp outside the city. But that
wasn't far enough for many countrymen following news of the event from here.
As the revolt against the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq grew, so did pressure
to bring home Ukraine's 1,650 soldiers.
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Ukrainian soldiers take shelter in al Kut
AFP/Karim Sahib
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"It was one thing when we gave our troops the role of peacekeepers, and a
completely different thing when our troops found themselves in the very
center of a civil war by the people of Iraq," said Mykola Katerynchuk, a
leading opposition member of parliament from the Our Ukraine bloc, which is
pushing to withdraw the nation's troops from Iraq. "As it turns out, we
completely misunderstood our role in that country."
With the fourth-largest contingent among U.S. allies in the occupation force
behind Britain, Italy and Poland, Ukraine reflects the stresses and emotions
evident in most of the three dozen nations with troops in Iraq. Street
protests against military deployments have erupted in Japan, Australia and
South Korea. Opposition parties or newspapers in Poland, Italy, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Australia, South Korea, Latvia and Thailand have called for troop
withdrawals. Parents of soldiers met with Bulgaria's president on Monday to
beg him to save their sons.
Since Spain's incoming Socialist prime minister announced a withdrawal of
his country's troops if the United Nations did not take over the military
operation, the United States has sought to persuade Ukraine and other
nations to keep their troops in Iraq. Although forces from most of those
nations have not played a significant military role, U.S. officials say
their presence is a symbol of support for Bush administration policies in
Iraq.
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So far, most U.S. allies in Iraq have vowed to stay the course, with varying
degrees of determination. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan has
resisted demands to call forces home despite the kidnapping of three
Japanese civilians. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, which has 10,000
troops deployed in southern Iraq, offered a spirited defense of its Iraq
policy over the weekend, while Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy
paid a surprise visit to his forces in Iraq to demonstrate his resolve.
South Korea on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to dispatch 3,600 troops
to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq despite the unrest of the last week.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon told reporters in Seoul that although the
situation in Iraq had grown worse than expected, there was "no possibility
of change" in the deployment plan.
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But others appear increasingly apprehensive about events. Kazakhstan's
defense minister last week said his nation would withdraw its 30 troops,
only to be contradicted later by a government statement that said a decision
would be based on security considerations. The Philippines said it would
defer a decision on a pullout until it could reevaluate its deployment.
Hungary and Thailand held out the possibility of removing their troops if
conditions in Iraq worsened.
"Bulgaria will be there. So far," Zlatin Traupkov, the Bulgarian president's
secretary for foreign policy, said by telephone on Friday. "There is no
political decision for withdrawal from operations," he said.
President Bush called Berlusconi and the presidents of Poland and El
Salvador on Friday to shore up support. Vice President Cheney is traveling
in Japan and South Korea, where he is encouraging perseverance despite the
kidnappings of their citizens.
In addition to the U.S. military force of about 135,000, 34 countries have
contributed a total of 26,500 troops to the Iraq occupation force. Most of
them are engaged in humanitarian or peacekeeping efforts.
The Ukrainians arrived last year with no tanks or heavy weaponry -- but
plenty of defective helmets -- anticipating the sort of policing activities
they performed in the former Yugoslavia in recent years. The soldiers
volunteered for the duty to collect far larger paychecks and receive better
training. Many of them were deployed in Kut, about 100 miles southeast of
Baghdad, and elsewhere in Wasit province, manning checkpoints and
destroying old ammunition depots.
Maj. Gen. Leonid Holopatiuk, a top officer on the Ukrainian general staff
and head of the military's Euro-Atlantic cooperation department,
acknowledged that the mission has changed dramatically in recent days.
"The majority of our contingent in Iraq was ready for a more classic
peacekeeping mission," he said in an interview. But he added, "The question
of withdrawal is not on the table. . . . If we start to withdraw our troops
under the pressure of such actions, as we saw in Spain, what was the use to
start the whole operation? I think we have to go to the end."
The participation of Ukrainian troops has been particularly important for
President Leonid Kuchma in repairing relations with the United States, which
were strained two years ago by allegations that Ukraine had sold Saddam
Hussein, then Iraq's president, a sophisticated $100 million radar system.
Although Kuchma denied the charge, the FBI authenticated an audiotape
smuggled out of the country by a former bodyguard on which the president
allegedly authorized the sale.
Kuchma's domestic opponents now accuse him of sacrificing Ukrainian soldiers
for the sake of business backers who value ties with the United States. "The
people of Ukraine demand the withdrawal of our troops while the ones who
make the decisions don't want to accept this because it will spoil their
financial position," the leader of the country's Communist Party, Petro
Symonenko, said in an interview.
Symonenko pushed for a vote in parliament on Friday to withdraw the troops,
but the president's supporters thwarted the move.
With elections looming in October, the issue seems certain to remain hot.
"The troops in Iraq might become part of the political struggle in Ukraine
against the backdrop of the presidential campaign," said Sergei Zgurets, a
military and political analyst here. "That's where we are now."
The Washington Post, Tuesday, April 13, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6482-2004Apr12.html
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher
morganw@patriot.net, 202 437 4707
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