Los Angeles Times (February 4)
“To say that the truce in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed breakaway ‘republics’ are battling the pro-Western Kiev government, isn’t holding is like saying the Titanic sprung a leak. The cease-fire signed in September is a dead letter. There’s a full-blown war afoot.” This does not, however, mean that the U.S. should arm the Ukrainians. “The presumption that Putin will back off once Kiev gets U.S. weaponry is not based on evidence but hope. And hope is not a strategy.”
New York Times (August 27)
The talks between Ukraine President Poroshenko and Russia’s Putin produced little. “The problem is that Ukraine has little interest in a cease-fire now, and Russia is pretending that it is not in the fray. Ukraine is steadily gaining ground against the Russian-backed rebels, and knows they would use a pause in fighting to rearm and consolidate.”
Tags: Cease-fire, Poroshenko, Putin, Rearm, Rebels, Russia, Talks, Ukraine
