Western leaders are clinging to a tattered, week-old truce deal in Ukraine, in spite of reports that Russian-backed rebels are pushing into the eastern part of the country and their own assertions that Russian troops are taking part in the fighting.
The leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia agreed in a phone conversation Thursday to make a new attempt to ensure the Feb. 12 ceasefire deal reached in Minsk is observed. U.S. officials backed the effort.
“What was agreed to last week was not a shopping list. You don’t get to decide which items you’re going to abide by. Those were commitments made by all parties, and we expect them to keep their word,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
But the ceasefire was broken almost as soon as it was signed, with the rebels seizing the strategic rail junction of Debaltseve and shelling other government-controlled areas, according to international monitors.
U.S. officials also noted that Russian troops were in the fight.
“The Russian military has deployed a large amount of artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems around Debaltseve where it is shelling Ukrainian positions. We are confident these are Russian military, not separatist systems,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Feb. 13. “The Russian military also has air defense systems deployed near Debaltseve. We are also confident these are Russian military, not separatist systems.”
Still, Western leaders brushed aside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s call Thursday for a U.N. peacekeeping mission to enforce the ceasefire. Russia, which has a veto on the Security Council, strongly opposed the move.
“Any formal request would have to be considered in close consultation with our partners and obviously as part of the U.N. process,” Psaki said.
The diplomatic maneuvering to save the failing ceasefire is the latest sign that Western leaders aren’t willing to go beyond sanctions to block Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine, raising concerns that the inaction will encourage him to put pressure on other former Soviet republics, especially the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — a move that would put Russia in direct confrontation with NATO, since the three are alliance members.
“The greatest international menace today is the revisionist power in the Kremlin, Mr. Putin. If we don’t stop Mr. Putin in Ukraine we will face him elsewhere,” said John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador in Kiev and co-author of a report by a number of former U.S. officials arguing for Washington to arm Ukraine’s forces.
Herbst’s concerns echoed those by British Defense Minister Michael Fallon, who said Wednesday that there is a “real and present danger” of Russian efforts to destabilize the Baltic states, and NATO needed to be prepared to resist that.
Those concerns have helped fuel a push by U.S. lawmakers to arm Ukraine, a move Obama administration officials say they are still considering but have not agreed to, but which some allies, such as Germany, oppose for fear of escalating the conflict. Though the U.S. and some allied nations such as Britain provide assistance to Ukraine, the aid is limited to “non-lethal” items such as body armor, medical supplies, radar equipment and vehicles.
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House to require the administration to provide arms to Kiev.
Supporters argue that it’s the only way to convince Putin to negotiate seriously on Ukraine’s future, saying the Russian leader believes he is gaining more than he’s losing in spite of the deaths of Russian soldiers and damage to the Russian economy from international sanctions.
“As President Obama continues to ‘consider’ lethal assistance, Putin continues to act with lethal force to achieve his military objectives in Ukraine,” Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday in a statement.
“Ukrainians have the will to resist this aggression, and are not asking anyone to do their fighting for them. They only ask that the defenders of democracy to give them the means to resist the onslaught of a dictator. Shame on us for failing them.”
