NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine - Backed by Russian troops and weaponry, hundreds of Ukrainian rebel militiamen mobilized on Friday in this southeastern town, vacated by the Ukrainian military two days ago, and began to push toward the strategic seaport of Mariupol 27 miles away.
The leader of the rebels called the advance a broad new effort to wrest control of a wide swath of coastal territory from the central government.
The militiamen flew the flag of Novorossiya, or New Russia, a reference to Russia’s historical claims over the southeastern area of Ukraine that encompasses the rebellious Donetsk and Luhansk regions under siege by the Ukrainian army.
Their thrust toward Mariupol, the biggest city in the southeast, was the most prominent evidence that the insurgency in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia has been given a new infusion of vitality by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. It came as Putin directly addressed the insurgents for the first time on Friday in a message posted on his website in which he called them the fighters of Novorossiya.
The developments offered new insights into the strategy of Putin, who has supported the rebels in defiance of the United States and its Western allies as part of a broader effort to keep Ukraine within Russia’s sphere of influence.
The rebel advance along the southeastern coast suggested Putin may be establishing the basis for a more independent eastern Ukraine, or for an overland route from Russia to Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed five months ago.
A takeover of Mariupol, an industrial city of 450,000, would go a long way toward helping the separatists gain control over land that would connect Russia to Crimea.
“We plan to take Mariupol,” said a commander of the rebels in Novoazovsk, who identified as Svet. “Now we are fighting for the southeast of Ukraine for Novorossiya.”
Journalists who visited Mariupol earlier Friday saw Ukrainian workers digging trenches with backhoes and building defensive positions in anticipation of an assault. Civilian residents, household belongings piled into their cars, were leaving.
While Ukrainian militiamen manned Novoazovsk checkpoints, evidence of a Russian presence was abundant, including unmarked Russian military vehicles with no license plates.
