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U.S. Considers Supplying Arms to Ukraine Forces, Officials Say

WASHINGTON — With Russian-backed separatists pressing their attacks in Ukraine , NATO ’s military commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, now supports providing defensive weapons and equipment to Kiev’s beleaguered forces, and an array of administration and military officials appear to be edging toward that position, American officials said Sunday. President Obama has made no decisions on providing such lethal assistance. But after a series of striking reversals that Ukraine’s forces have suffered in recent weeks, the Obama administration is taking a fresh look at the question of military aid. Secretary of State John Kerry , who plans to visit Kiev on Thursday, is open to new discussions about providing lethal assistance, as is Gen. Martin E. Dempsey , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who is leaving his post soon, backs sending defensive weapons to the Ukrainian forces. In recent months, […]

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Ukraine rebel leader Zakharchenko ‘to raise 100,000 men’

Rebels have been gaining ground in the past few days Pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko has announced plans to recruit 100,000 men, as fighting with Ukrainian forces intensifies. The separatists are trying to capture the key town of Debaltseve, while central areas of rebel-held Donetsk have been hit by artillery fire. Dozens of civilians were killed on both sides of the front line at the weekend. "Mobilisation will start in 11 days’ time," Mr Zakharchenko told Donetsk news agency. Hundreds of civilians have been moved out of Debaltseve amid reports that the separatists have reached the outskirts of the town. Attempts to negotiate a ceasefire failed on Saturday in the Belarusian capital Minsk when rebel representatives did not turn up.

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12 Killed In Ukraine As Peace Talks Awaited

People take cover from shelling in a residential area in Donetsk’s Kyibishevsky district on Friday…. ENLARGE Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images KIEV, Ukraine—At least 12 people were killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine as the Ukrainian government and rebels squabble over who should be allowed to attend internationally-mediated talks if they are restarted in Belarus. In the last 24 hours, five members of the Ukrainian military were killed, a spokesman said, and the city council of rebel-held Donetsk reported seven civilian deaths. Dozens were wounded on both sides. The death toll has risen sharply this month, as government forces and pro-Russian rebels resumed full-scale fighting . After the collapse of a tentative truce agreed last month, both sides accused each other of violating a broader peace agreement reached in Minsk in September, and rebels announced an offensive to retake territory lost to the government last year. Russia and the West […]

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EU fails to agree Russia sanctions as cracks in unity appear

On guard: a pro-Russian rebel patrols the road near the airport of Donetsk, with Ukrainian military vehicles in the background Increasingly divided EU ministers failed to issue a specific threat of further economic sanctions against Russia on Thursday, despite fears that the conflict in eastern Ukraine was entering a dangerous new phase. European foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Brussels to determine how to respond to the collapse of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, fearing that this weekend’s bombardment of the port city of Mariupol marked a dramatic escalation of the fighting. More On this topic IN Europe However, diplomats in Brussels said it was increasingly difficult to preserve a united front among the 28 members of the EU, partly because of the recent election of a leftwing government in Greece which has vowed to act as a bridge between Europe and Russia . In a weak final […]

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EU Foreign Ministers Extend Targeted Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine

ENLARGE Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin addresses the media following a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images BRUSSELS—European Union foreign ministers agreed on Thursday to extend targeted sanctions against separatist leaders in Ukraine and their Russian backers by six months and hit additional people with sanctions but showed no appetite for broader economic measures against Russia in the immediate future. The extension of the sanctions suggested that Greece’s new government, while openly skeptical of sanctions on Russia, wouldn’t break European Union unity on the issue. The statement foreign ministers agreed maintained a tough tone on Russia, saying Moscow had given the rebels “continued and growing” support and held “responsibility” for the latest violence. However, a tougher test for the bloc’s unity will come if there is a fresh surge in violence in eastern Ukraine and the pressure builds to seriously consider fresh economics […]

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Kremlin: Ukraine gas networks idled by 2019

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov says Europe remains an important trading partner in the energy sector. UPI/David Silpa Europe gets about a quarter of its natural gas needs met by Russian suppliers, though the majority of that runs through a Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. Simmering conflict, and gas contract issues reaching back to at least 2006, exposes that artery to risk. The Kremlin has worked to advance transit networks that avoid Ukrainian territory, most recently with Turkish Stream, a revamped project that replaces the now-scrapped South Stream pipeline. By 2019, Ukrainian networks will be idle and Gazprom Chairman Viktor Zubkov said Europe needs to be ready . "Considering the decision made on re-directing supplies from 2019, European partners do not have so much time [for infrastructure preparation]," he said from a European gas conference in Vienna. Gazprom officials met earlier this week in Ankara to discuss […]

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Heavy Fighting Drains Ukraine Government’s Options and Finances

President Petro Poroshenko attends Auschwitz ceremonies Tuesday. ENLARGE Photo: Getty Images Ukrainian troops beat back fresh attacks by pro-Russia militants on a crucial rail hub Tuesday, part of recent heavy fighting that is sapping the Ukrainian administration of options and finances as it works to fend off a wider Russian-supported onslaught. U.S. and European leaders threatened new sanctions in the wake of a rebel rocket attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians over the weekend, but Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared ready to shrug off any new measures. On Tuesday, he continued to blame Kiev for the fighting and for “gunning down civilians in cold blood.” The Kremlin denies giving support to pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine or sending Russian troops, which Kiev said on Tuesday numbered as many as 15,000. Kiev and Western officials say a fresh infusion of Russian armor in the past two weeks has been […]

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Seven Ukrainian soldiers killed in past 24 hours: Kiev military

KIEV (Reuters) – Seven Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 24 wounded in fighting in separatist eastern territories in the past 24 hours, Kiev military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said on Monday. Fighting in eastern Ukraine is at its worst level since a ceasefire was agreed last September. The rebels have launched an offensive on the port city of Mariupol and vowed to encircle the town of Debaltseve, where Seleznyov said fighting was the most intense. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice)

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Cease-Fire in Shreds, Ukraine Sees Heaviest Fighting in Months

DONETSK, Ukraine — The shattered remains of a tank bearing a tattered Ukrainian flag sat beside the main highway to Mariupol on Monday afternoon, a remnant of what pro-Russian rebel forces said was a failed attempt by Ukrainian forces to push into rebel-held territory a few days after a shelling attack left 30 dead in that port city. With a cease-fire in shreds, pro-Russian separatist forces mounting regular new attacks and the Ukrainian military struggling to rebound from losses at the Donetsk airport last week, eastern Ukraine is seeing by far the heaviest fighting since August. Thunderous artillery blasts could be heard from several directions Monday in the largely isolated city of Donetsk. The Ukrainian government declared a state of emergency on Monday in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the areas controlled by the rebels, and put the entire country on high alert. In Brussels, at the request of […]

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Ukraine crisis: EU leaders warn of more sanctions against Russia

Part of a missile outside an apartment building in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on Sunday Leaders from all 28 members of the EU have warned Russia that it faces further sanctions after fighting in Ukraine’s eastern provinces escalated in recent weeks. The heads of state noted “evidence of [Russia’s] continued and growing support” for separatists in eastern Ukraine and called on the EU to consider “further restrictive measures”, in one of the most explicit statements yet by the EU. Foreign ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss further measures at an emergency meeting called by Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief. The call to consider stricter sanctions marks a more cohesive line on Russia from the EU after weeks of internal disputes over how to approach the situation in Ukraine. The bloc had previously been split between hawkish member states, who had pressed for tougher sanctions, and others who […]

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