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Ukraine Calls for International Peacekeepers
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requested that EU and UN peacekeepers (FT)
be deployed to eastern Ukraine as the recently renewed cease-fire
between government forces and pro-Russia rebels disintegrates. The EU pledged (AP)
to provide armored vehicles and satellite imagery, and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe committed an additional four
hundred observers to monitor the cease-fire. The strategic transport hub
of Debaltseve fell to pro-Russia separatists on Wednesday after thousands of Ukrainian government troops withdrew from the embattled city. Despite efforts (Deutsche Welle)
by French, German, Russian, and Ukrainian leaders to salvage the
week-old truce, fighting continues. Russia denies any role in breaching
the cease-fire and said that sending EU troops to Ukraine would be a
violation of the Minsk agreement.
Analysis
"Given
the West’s weakness, more aggression seems likely. But, for now, Mr.
Putin has reason to preen. The takeover of Debaltseve will go a long way
to consolidate the breakaway puppet state
he is building in eastern Ukraine. Under the terms of the deal accepted
by the West, Moscow need not allow Ukraine to control its own border
with Russia unless and until it agrees to a delegation of power to the
Russian entity that satisfies Mr. Putin," writes the Washington Post.
"A year of talks and failed agreements has demonstrated that there is no purely diplomatic solution
either. Only by eliminating—or at least seriously diminishing—the
potential for the separatists and their Russian backers to continue
their military campaign can Ukraine and its partners hope for a lasting
political solution," argues Carl Bildt at Project Syndicate.
"Greater
help for Ukraine, on the other hand, would not hurt Russia and would
have only positive consequences for both the Ukrainian and the European
economies. Economic relations within and with a prosperous western
Ukraine might also help in time to soften the antagonism between nationalists and separatists and make President Vladimir Putin rethink his regional ambitions," urges the Guardian. | 
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