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International News Title: With 8,000 Ukrainian Troops Trapped, a Cease-Fire Grows More Fragile With Ukrainian Troops Trapped, a Cease-Fire Grows More Fragile By ANDREW E. KRAMERFEB. 16, 2015 ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — The plight of as many as 8,000 Ukrainian troops trapped in the vicinity of Debaltseve, as well as the prospects for an already fragile truce, look decidedly dimmer on Monday after a Russian television correspondent strolled down what was supposed to be a hotly contested road. The video on the Russian channel Life News, if reliable, seemed to prove that the road, the only artery of support for the Ukrainian troops, was firmly in the hands of the separatists. The status of this stretch of potholed asphalt has become a sticking point in the cease-fire and threatens to unravel the deal. The separatists say their control of the road means they have the Ukrainians surrounded. President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine has denied their claim, because conceding the point would force him either to negotiate for the release of the trapped soldiers or resume fighting to extricate them. A dozen or so soldiers escaped on Sunday, and on Friday a small group reportedly managed to walk out through the fields. Otherwise, nobody has left the town since Thursday. Already battered and giving ground after the conflict flared up a month ago, and fighting against forces they and Western governments say include the Russians, Ukrainian soldiers had been trying at least to hold onto their supply line until the cease-fire took effect, at midnight Saturday. It seems increasingly evident that they failed, putting the agreement in doubt. Previously, this section of road was known to be mined and within range of rebel artillery, though not occupied by rebel soldiers. The video, with a backdrop of blown-up tanks and dead Ukrainian soldiers, appeared to show Russian-backed militants on the road near Logvinovo, about five miles from Debaltseve. Having apparently lost on the battlefield, Ukraine now will appeal for diplomatic pressure on Russia to prevail upon the separatists to open the road. But European leaders and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia were unable to solve the Debaltseve riddle during intense negotiations in Minsk last week, and it remains an open question whether they can now. Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine there were scattered cease-fire violations on Monday, as the European Union on Monday froze the assets of an additional 19 individuals and nine entities after delaying the announcement during the Minsk negotiations. Ilkka Kanerva, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued a statement welcoming the general success of the cease-fire but deploring “the illegal separatists’ false and counterproductive insistence that the deal does not apply to Debaltseve, a government-held town.” Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#1. To: Pericles (#0)
I find it interesting that these Russian separatists just happen to have heavy artillery and tanks. cough cough
Why? Ukraine is an arms exporting country. And there are arms depots from WW2 till the disbanding of the USSR everywhere. Also, the Kiev junta is not fighting the eastern rebels with regular army units but with militias because the regular army units all seem to switch sides or disband when sent to the front lines.
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