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In reply to the discussion: Ukraine launches offensive in east, vows to rid country of 'parasites'. [View all]dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky said Tuesday that Ukraine had unleashed a "massive artillery and air offensive" following the end of a ceasefire.
After declaring a weeklong truce in June and then extending that agreement through Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had evidently rejected the idea of waiting any longer for the separatists to begin peace efforts.
Russian officials immediately expressed "deep regret." President Vladimir Putin said Poroshenko would assume responsibility for future casualties and gathered his top security aides to discuss the "swiftly deteriorating" situation in Russia's western neighbor.
Over the weekend and again on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande held teleconferences with Poroshenko and Putin. The two leaders found themselves in rare agreement with Putin, and urged Ukraine's president to extend the truce to give indirect talks between separatist commanders and the government a chance.
http://www.dw.de/putin-says-russia-will-hold-ukraine-accountable-after-ceasefire-ends/a-17751985
Events in Ukraine Provoked by West for Deterrence of Russia - Putin
MOSCOW, July 1 (RIA Novosti) The events in Ukraine provoked by the West are a concentrated political expression of deterrence toward Russia and an attempt to create a tense center on the Russian border, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
We all need to clearly understand that the events provoked by the West in Ukraine have become a concentrated political expression of deterrence toward Russia. Its roots go deep in history and its obvious that this policy has not stopped even after the Cold War, Putin said during a meeting with Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives.
Attempts have been made through Ukraine to rock the situation in the region and to create a tense center on our borders, Putin said.
The Russian leader expressed hope that eventually the West would drop its ambitions of building a global barracks and acknowledge the right of each country to develop the way they see fit.
I hope, nonetheless, that pragmatism will prevail, the West will drop its ambitions of trying to build a global barracks, placing everyone in formation, imposing single rules of behavior and social life and start building relations on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and mutual interests, Putin stressed.
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140701/190775497/Events-in-Ukraine-Provoked-by-West-for-Deterrence-of-Russia--.html