Pro-European protests in Ukraine ©EPA Ukraine’s economic situation has been described as ‘catastrophic’ EU leaders on Thursday will lead the west’s diplomatic efforts to counter Russia’s takeover of Crimea after a day of multiple setbacks when the Kremlin refused to engage with the new Ukrainian government and the allies were at loggerheads over how tough to be with Moscow. The emergency summit in Brussels comes as the US issued a detailed 10-point rebuttal of Russia’s “false narrative” about Ukraine. In addressing Russian claims that it has no troops in Ukraine, that its actions are legitimate and the Ukrainian government is illegitimate, the state department said: “The world has not seen such startling Russian fiction since Dostoyevsky.” David Cameron, UK prime minister, said on arriving at the summit that there were three points to address: Russia and Ukraine must open talks, the EU must show strong support for the Ukrainian […]