News from Ukraine Conflict

[Staggerwing]

Be interesting to see what happens if the Ukrainian Foreign Minister's assertion that Ukrainian forces destroyed several Russian vehicles in the convoy turns out to be true.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

One article said they were old T65s, which used to be made in Ukraine. It's unlikely he will use damning equipment if there is a cheap substitute.

[Gusington]

CNN reports that Ukrainian military transport plane was shot down with 50+ dead. Also - bomb found outside the Ukrainian President's office.

[Centurion40]

And now the Russkies have cut-off natural gas to Ukraine.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/news/ukraine-russia-gas/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

JFL!

[JasonPratt]

^^ Kind of surprised they hadn't done that to start with.

[Martok]

^^ Kind of surprised they hadn't done that to start with.

Same here.  I was expecting that to happen a lot sooner than it did (as in weeks/months ago). 

[skeptical.platypus]

I wonder if it's another example of overplaying his hand. There's not much point in dealing with putin if he won't share any carrots. There's certainly no reason to put up with his little stick syndrome without access to the motherland's resources.

The sudden apparent escalation -- rumors of armor crossing the border, transport plane shot out of the sky, gas cutoff -- seems suspiciously coincidental given the US media furor over the ISIS reacharound this weekend.

[Centurion40]

Ukrainian helo shot down this afternoon.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Its all over the news that the Ukraine has signed a trade deal with the EU. They have also stated they wish to join. Same for Georgia (gasp!) and Moldova.

Seems like threats do not encourage compliance. Maybe it's time for the Putin pout.

[Gusington]

Hmm...or a 1956 or 1968 type invasion...

[TheCommandTent]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he is halting a unilateral cease-fire in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists and says Ukrainian forces will go on the offensive against the rebels.

A statement from Poroshenko on his website says the cease-fire is being halted and that "we will attack and we will free our country."

The fragile cease-fire expired Monday night. The idea was to give rebels a chance to disarm and to start a broader peace process including an amnesty and new elections.

But rebels did not disarm, and the ceasefire was continually violated. Rebels did not comply with Poroshenko's latest push to get them to turn over key border crossings with Russia and permit international monitoring of the cease-fire.

"The unique chance to put the peace plan into practice was not realized," Poroshenko said in a speech prepared for delivery to the nation. "This happened because of the criminal actions of the fighters."

Poroshenko had already extended the cease-fire from seven days as part of a plan to end the fighting that has killed more than 400 people since April.

Poroshenko's decision followed four-way talks in search of a solution with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Monday as the deadline approached. He issued a statement after the talks ended saying the key conditions needed to continue the ceasefire had not been me

http://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-president-ends-unilateral-ceasefire-221108916.html

I wonder if Putin will use this as an example of Ukrainian aggression and as an excuse to "protect" Russians in the rebel held areas.

[Gusington]

If Putin hasn't done anything by now beyond massing troops, I don't think he will start now.

[Staggerwing]

Putin's direct action window is almost closed, barring any bit of truly outrageous behavior by real or purported anti-Russophone Ukrainian nationalists. At this point he has far more to gain by continuing to pump weapons (esp. anti-air) into the conflicted areas and hoping that his catspaws can hold on to enough turf to become a de facto autonomous thuggocracy which will remember the hand that fed it.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Both posts make sense to me. He will do whatever, with the logic better to seem mad than predictable.

[Labbug]

There may be a new escalation in the conflict.  A Malaysian airliner has gone down over the Ukraine near Russian border.  First reports are that it was shot down.