Taking Measures in Ukraine

"I hope that they have enough conscience left in Moscow to take some measures."
Igor Strelkov, Rebel leader, Krasnyi Liman, Ukraine

Rebel fighters embrace in Siversk, near Krasnyy Liman, before heading into battle, according to Reuters

"[The Russian military buildup ncear the Ukrainian border represents] a very regrettable step backward."
"I can confirm that we now see a new Russian military buildup -- at least a few thousand more Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border -- and we see troop manoeuvres in the neighbourhood of Ukraine."
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary general

Intense fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine where ethnic Russian insurgents speak of losing against government forces, begging the Kremlin by video for military assistance.  Reuters has quoted Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov as describing rebels attempting to break a military encirclement after rejecting a government ultimatum to surrender their weapons and cease fighting. "There's a major battle going on which exceeds in terms of force and scale anything there has been up to now." 


Under pressure in Russia from nationalists who demand he send troops into eastern Ukraine to shore up the rebel stronghold in Slavyansk in the Donetsk region,Vladimir Putin has failed to respond to the ethnic Russians' appeals for intervention, to rescue their insurrection from Ukrainian military forces. He has instead spoken positively of a proposed peace plan and ceasefire proffered by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Mr. Putin doesn't relish the potential of further clashes, diplomatic as they are, with NATO, and his semi-isolation from Europe and North America, though he seemed comfortable enough in company with European leaders at the recent commemoration ceremonies of the D-Day landings of the Second World War, when he circulated among them without incident, and in fact France's President seemed to fawn upon him, holding a special dinner in his honour; and a separate one for Barack Obama.

Europe is breathing a sigh of relief that no further sanctions have been imposed on Russia. Russia is no doubt breathing a similar sigh of relief over that very same matter. Their economy is burdened enough by financial outlays relating to Crimea, and no doubt the prospect of embracing east Ukraine and the cost it will entail doesn't appear all that appealing at the moment. Ukraine is being punished in other ways with Russia threatening it will deliver gas only if the billions it claims are owed by Ukraine is paid, and all future gas must be prepaid.

The secure border that Vladimir Putin appears to urge and which Mr. Poroshenko spoke of doesn't appear to be feasible in the near future with the Ukrainian government and rebels alike claiming heavy fighting near Kerasnyi Liman, east of Slavyansk, the epicentre of the insurgency. While four government troops were said to have been killed and 20 wounded in Thursday's conflict, up to 200 rebels were killed, hundreds more wounded, according to Vladislav Seleznev, spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east.

In appealing to the Kremlin by video posted to YouTube, Rebel commander Igor Girkin, (Strelkov), described his men as being far outnumbered and outgunned by Ukrainian forces. Retreat from positions in Yampol and Seversk near Krasnyi Liman was likely. Rebel supply lines to Slavyansk would be cut should the Ukrainian military advance continue. His forces at Yampol had suffered "great losses" and he feared the government troops, supported by tanks, would break through their positions.

Despite this direct appeal that spells out the reliance of the ethnic Russian rebels' expectations that their Kremlin brethren would swiftly ride to their rescue, Russia summarily dismisses Ukrainian and Western charges that Russia was responsible for fomenting the eastern rebellion. Instead, Moscow claims that those Russian citizens who are actively engaged in combat alongside the rebels are merely volunteers, and it has sent no heavy artillery across the border to the rebels.

A lone T-64 battle tank is shown in Snizhne, Ukraine, with no markings

The few tanks that are in the possession of the rebels, according to Denis Pushilin, one of the Donetsk leaders, had been taken from Ukrainian forces. Despite that the U.S. states it is in possession of evidence that tanks and heavy military equipment were directed over the border from Russia to Ukraine. These inconvenient details aside, the insurgents, ethnic Russians, Russian-speaking Ukrainians living in Ukraine see no reason why the place they live in should remain with Ukraine rather than be annexed to Russian possession.

Here an alleged T-65 is shown in Makiivka, next to a lorry with a Russian flag