Russia has issued a statement slamming Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Wednesday “ceasefire” announcement, saying it amounted to little more than an ultimatum for eastern rebels and was not the invitation to negotiation they’d hoped for.
That seemed to be how Ukraine’s military was treating it, giving rebels three hours to surrender to them after the announcement before launching a massive offensive, which military spokesmen claim killed 300 rebels.
Russia’s statement also complained about one of their border checkpoints coming under fire during the fighting in the east, and they demanded an apology from Ukraine on the matter.
Poroshenko has called for another ceasefire after the first one collapsed, and is also pushing a plan for a 10 km “buffer zone” between the Russian and Ukrainian border. The parts of the plan made public so far have not made it clear whether the buffer zone will be on Ukraine’s side of the border, or Russia’s.
Of course, every time Russia expresses discomfort with Ukraine’s eastern war, the US follows up with claims of imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was again hyping claims of Russia amassing outdated artillery to ship to the rebels. Russia has denied the claims of a build-up along the border.
Poroshenko proclaimed so many "ceasefires", all of which turned out to be fakes, that you might as well stop reporting these empty proclamations.
Nothing will be done by Kyiv "government" until Obama gives them appropriate instructions.
Hello? Is Samantha Powers on the phone? Guess not…
The result of this Obama politic : never trust the USA.Russia will not forget how civilians are shooted.
The democratic west did not take any ukrainian refugee on his territory : they don't exist.
Shell need a cleaned territory in order to start schist gaz extraction.
As usual, the United States makes an assertion, Russia is massing troops on the border (as if it's de facto aggressive to move troops inside one's borders) and then Russia must prove a negative in the court of public opinion. Same with Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc., etc., and wow.
"…not made it clear whether the buffer zone will be on Ukraine’s side of the border, or Russia’s…"
Well, duh!.. Of course it's going to be on the Russian side of the border. Ukraine is already having trouble holding on to its own territory – having lost the Crimea. Can't afford to lose anymore, can they?
Of course it's not a peace offer! The first step is to wrongfoot the rebels by splitting them into those who want to give up and the diehards who keep hoping that they can provoke Putin into invading. The second step is to cut off supplies from Russia by sealing off the border, on both sides. That requires Putin's help. If he refuses to help, he wrongfoots himself. Only then can any kind of talks start and the outcome is fairly obvious: free and fair elections under international supervision and without intimidation either from armed gangs inside Ukraine or from Russia. The result probably be a total disavowal of the rebels.
It is obvious that Putin wants to avoid conflict, He has gone to great lengths to search for a compromise and a peaceful solution. However I think it is time for Russia to move into those 2 provinces in order to restore law and order and stop the killing on both sides.. That said , they should not be annexed unless Ukraine continues it's murderous assault. The west (US) must give Russia assurance that Ukraine will not be part of NATO unless it is approved by Moscow.
Putin needs to put Obama in his place. This is a classic case of US meddling.