Ukraine in Tatters

"We will cease fire with the exclusion of internal areas, that is to say Debaltseve."
"There is not a single word about Debaltseve in the Minsk agreement. Kyiv has betrayed thousands of soldiers there."
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader, Donetsk People's Republic

"We've opened a road parallel to the main highway, which they've cut at Logvinovo. Now they will try to take that route too."
Semen Semenchenko, commander, Donbass volunteer battalion

"Those are our positions being hit. A ceasefire is when no one is firing. But compared with yesterday, which was bloody awful, and the day before that, which was also bloody awful, this is all right."
Ukrainian Berkut special police unit soldier

"The issue [request from Ukraine for UN peacekeepers to be deployed to eastern Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire] was discussed and a decision has been taken to appeal to the UN and the EU concerning the setting up in Ukraine of a peacekeeping and security operation."
Olexander Turchynov, Ukraine's national security and defence council

President Poroshenko said about 2,500 troops withdrew from Debaltseve on Wednesday

Well, "all right" didn't last, nor did the soldier who mouthed those words expect that it would. Anatoliy Stelmakh, speaking for the Ukrainian military, stated that the pro-Russian insurgents had used "every kind of weapon, including Grad rockets" in Debaltyseve. "The rebels tried to storm our positions three times", he noted. Perhaps the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who had been hemmed in by the rebels might have managed to retain their positions, but they were not being re-supplied and simply ran out of ammunition. Leading them to voluntarily retire.

Having declared unequivocally that Debaltseve was not part of the ceasefire agreement, and with malice aforethought ignoring the very assurances they signed, the militants, backed by a Russian presence and Russian hardware, simply overwhelmed the embattled Ukrainian forces. And though observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation were to have been given monitoring access to Debaltseve and surrounding areas, they were denied access, and for obvious reasons.

All Wednesday, the road out of Debaltseve into government-held territory thundered to the sound of retreating armour - tanks and troop carriers full of exhausted, sometimes defiant soldiers.

The declaration of a ceasefire, like its predecessor, was a sham, a ploy to gain time and advantage, and led by Vladimir Putin who played all the aces; Petro Poroshenko, urged to accept unacceptable conditions by Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande was left with no option but to hope against hope that the courage of his convictions would lead fate to convince Mr. Putin to honour his own signature, a hope that simply denied the reality of the man's despicable ambition.

Russia and its proxy Ukrainian militia conspired to deceive a desperate, but not quite trusting Kyiv to sign the ceasefire, and their worst fears were realized. Debaltseve, a direct link between Luhansk and Donetsk, with the retreat of the embattled 2,500 Ukrainian troops has now fallen into rebel possession. The ceasefire was not violated, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, since it was a rebel-held city at the time the agreement was signed. The map below says otherwise, of course.

"The hopes of the world for peace are being destroyed. Russia and the DNR [self-styled Donetsk People's Republic] are not abiding by the agreement. [The situation is leading to] further escalation."
Valeriy Chaly, deputy head, Ukraine presidential administration, Kyiv

"We have to respond to fire, to work on destroying the enemy's fighting positions. We do not have the right [to stop]. It is a moral thing."
Denis Pushlin, senior separatist representative

Now that's a use of language that George Orwell would glow with pride in. A "moral" thing, no less.