Ukraine's government kept up military pressure against pro-Russian rebels on Tuesday, threatening them with an "nasty surprise", while the militants said they were preparing to fight back after losing their main stronghold, according to The Associated Press.
President Petro Poroshenko, drawing confidence from the fall of the rebel bastion of Slaviansk at the weekend, named a new chief of military operations in the east following his appointment of an aggressive new defense minister who again demanded the separatists lay down their arms, the AP reported.
A security official said the government's plan to clear rebels from the two big towns of Donetsk and Luhansk would come as an "nasty surprise" for the insurgents, according to the AP.
Poroshenko, whose officials have ruled out any more unilateral ceasefires, kept the door open to a further round of indirect peace talks with separatist leaders, naming a possible venue in a government-controlled monastery-town in the east, the AP reported.
Poroshenko on Tuesday visited Slaviansk, which lies in eastern Ukraine's industrialised Donbass region, according to the AP.
"Until today Slaviansk was a symbol of terror and violence. Today Slaviansk is a symbol of a free Donbass and I thank you for that," he said on the city's main square in front of what was one of the rebels' main headquarters, the AP reported.
Meanwhile, signs emerged of a split in separatist ranks over the fall of Slaviansk with a powerful field commander critically questioning the pull-out from the rebel stronghold, according to the AP.
The rebels' loss of Slaviansk marks a major breakthrough in Kiev's three-month long fight against Russian backed separatists who are now calling in vain for military help from Moscow, the AP reported.
Poroshenko, installed in office just a month ago, named Vasyl Grytsak to head the "anti-terrorist centre", making him operational chief in the drive to crush the rebels, according to the AP.
