This seems like a broken record, but the last 24 hours have turned the standoff in Eastern Ukraine from a “ceasefire” to a hot war that doesn’t appear to be cooling down soon.
On Friday, June 20, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko announced a unilateral one-week cease-fire by his government as a way to deescalate the crisis with pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko announced to ceasefire with an ultimatum for the rebels: disarm or leave Ukraine.
Poroshenko called the 7-day cease-fire, which was to begin later on Friday, a first-step in a larger agreement, not only giving separatists a chance to disarm, but also for pro-Russia rebels to leave the country, the Kiev Post reports.He called on separatists to lay down their weapons, or else be “destroyed,” the President said.”The forces of the anti-terrorist operation will halt military action starting today and through June 27,” Poroshenko was cited as saying by the Interior Ministry on its website.
Probably to no one’s surprise, the ceasefire was violated several times in the last 10 days mainly by the pro-Russian forces.
So as July dawned in Ukraine, the ceasefire was over and heavy fighting broke out in the separatist eastern regions.
The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, told lawmakers the government’s “anti-terror operation” against pro-Russia separatists had been “renewed.”The announcement came hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that his country would not renew a cease-fire with the separatists, vowing instead to “attack and liberate our land.””Termination of cease-fire is our response to terrorists, insurgents, marauders … and (those who) deprive people of normal peaceful life,” Poroshenko said.
U.S. and NATO officials were quick to blame Russia and Vladimir Putin for not taking advantage of the ceasefire to de-escalate the crisis.
Reports began to trickle in via Twitter early Tuesday morning that Ukraine forces had renewed their efforts to defeat the pro-Russian rebels.
Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the latest developments in Ukraine but didn’t hint that the fighting would end anytime soon.
Putin did suggest, however, that he believes he has wide latitude to protect Russian people — including in all parts of the world, apparently.
While the United States has been mostly focused on the advance of the Islamic army ISIS in Iraq, Ukraine has flared up and again presents a challenge to the West on how to deal with a resurgent and unrelenting Russia knocking on its doorstep.
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