Ukraine is living through its bloodiest year in the conflict on its eastern border since it began in 2014, the Trump administration’s envoy for the crisis said Tuesday.
Russia has for years supported separatists in eastern Ukraine with advisers and weapons, fueling a proxy war that has killed more than 10,000 people.
“A lot of people think that this has somehow turned into a sleepy, frozen conflict, and it’s stable, and now we have Minsk agreements and there’s a ceasefire,” special envoy Kurt Volker said in remarks at the Atlantic Council. “That’s completely wrong. It is a crisis.”
“2017 has been the most violent year of the conflict since it began,” he continued. “Frankly, last night was one of the most violent nights in eastern Ukraine, certainly since February.”
Russia’s repeated denials of its role in the violence have only made a resolution more difficult, he said. The Kremlin has not abided by the 2015 Minsk ceasefire agreement, which requires the separatists to withdraw heavy weaponry from the conflict’s front line and create a buffer zone.
“Russia has insisted that it has nothing to do with the forces that it has created, that it commands, that it controls, with the separatist governments that it has set up, that it changes the leaders out of at will,” Volker said.
He stressed that peace in Ukraine can come about only if Russia pulls its forces and leadership from the region.
In September, Russia suggested sending United Nations peacekeeping forces to Ukraine. The Trump administration and European allies have agreed to explore that option, but not entirely on Russian president Vladimir Putin’s terms.
The original Kremlin proposal called for the peacekeepers to be deployed only along the conflict line between Ukraine and the separatists. The peacekeepers, the proposal went, would protect OSCE observers in eastern Ukraine who are there to monitor the Minsk ceasefire agreement, giving them more and safer access.
Ukraine and the West raised suspicions that that proposal would serve to cement Russia’s gains in the east. Instead, Volker said in late November, the peacekeeping force should “control security throughout” eastern Ukraine, including the Ukraine-Russia border where weapons and personnel flow.
Such a force, Volker said, could “bridge the gap” in trust between Ukraine and Russia and create the security conditions necessary for implementing the Minsk agreements, which also require local elections in Ukraine’s eastern regions.
Outside of a peacekeeping force, the Trump administration has also been mulling sending lethal defensive aid to Ukraine, a move that could jump-start a solution to the stagnant conflict.
President Donald Trump’s national security advisers have reportedly presented him with a $47 million “grant package” for Ukraine that includes defensive weapons such as anti-tank missiles. The Defense Department and State Department have also reportedly presented Trump with plans to send lethal defensive aid.
Lawmakers allocated $350 million for lethal and non-lethal aid, as well as training, in this year’s annual defense bill.
Proponents of the defensive aid see it as a deterrent that could reduce casualties and increase pressure on Russia to withdraw or seriously implement a ceasefire. Critics say the move could trigger an escalation in the conflict.
