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Russia Pushing Ukraine Conflict to ‘Point of No Return,’ E.U. Leader Says Ukraine President Says Europe’s Security Depends on Stopping Russia
(about 4 hours later)
BRUSSELS — Warning that Russia was pushing the conflict in Ukraine toward “the point of no return,” the president of the European Union’s executive arm said on Saturday that European leaders meeting in Brussels would probably endorse new and tougher sanctions in an effort to make Moscow “come to reason.” BRUSSELS — Accusing Russia of waging a campaign of “military aggression and terror” against his country, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine told European leaders here on Saturday that their own countries’ security depended on stopping Russian troops from stoking a conflict in eastern Ukraine that he said could escalate into a wider war.
After morning talks with the visiting president of Ukraine, Petro O. Poroshenko, the head of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, voiced Europe’s growing alarm and exasperation at Russian actions in Ukraine and the risks of a wider war. His warnings won no pledges of military assistance from the European Union, but helped set the stage for a new round of sanctions against Russia.
Mr. Poroshenko, speaking at a joint news conference with Mr. Barroso, said Ukraine still hoped for a political settlement with Russian-backed rebels in the east of his country but said a flow of Russian troops and armored vehicles into Ukraine in recent days in support of rebels were stoking the fires of a broader conflict. Saying that Russia was pushing the conflict in Ukraine toward “the point of no return,” the president of the European Union’s executive arm, José Manuel Barroso, said European leaders in Brussels would endorse new, tougher measures in an effort to make Moscow “come to reason.”
“We are too close to a border where there will be no return to the peace plan,” Mr. Poroshenko said, asserting that, since Wednesday, “thousands of foreign troops and hundreds of foreign tanks are now on the territory of Ukraine, with a very high risk not only for the peace and stability of Ukraine but for the peace and stability of the whole of Europe.” Some European leaders, particularly those from former Communist nations in Eastern Europe, called for direct military assistance to Ukraine’s badly stretched armed forces, which are battling pro-Russian rebels on three fronts in eastern Ukraine. But officials said a decision on military aid would be left to individual countries.
Russia has repeatedly denied sending troops or military hardware into Ukraine, but after the Ukrainian authorities released videos on Tuesday of captured Russian troops, Moscow conceded that some of its soldiers had crossed into Ukraine “by accident.” Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that Russian tanks had entered and flattened a small town between the rebel-held city of Luhansk and the Russian border.
Rebel leaders say Russian servicemen are fighting in Ukraine, but are doing so during their holiday leave from the Russian Army. Alexander Zakharchenko, a separatist leader in Donetsk, said these soldiers “would rather take their vacation not on a beach but with us, among brothers, who are fighting for their freedom.” Mr. Poroshenko, alongside Mr. Barroso in Brussels, said that Ukraine still hoped for a political settlement with the rebels, but that a flow of Russian troops and armored vehicles into Ukraine in recent days to support them were setting off a broader conflict.
Russia’s evasions and denials in response to mounting evidence of its direct involvement in supporting pro-Russian separatists has left even Europe’s more cautious leaders, notably Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, ready to endorse further sanctions. Ms. Merkel said Thursday that Germany still favored a diplomatic solution. “We are too close to a border where there will be no return to the peace plan,” Mr. Poroshenko said, asserting that since Wednesday, “thousands of foreign troops and hundreds of foreign tanks are now on the territory of Ukraine, with a very high risk not only for the peace and stability of Ukraine but for the peace and stability of the whole of Europe.”
However, she said, “we have to note that the situation in the last few days has become more difficult, and worsened.” Since March, she added, European Union leaders had said sanctions would be considered if there was an escalation. Her spokesman, Steffan Seisbert, said that Germany would support an extension of economic sanctions because there was no longer any real doubt of what he called a Russian “military intervention.” He added that this made Europe’s solidarity with Ukraine “crucially important for all of us.”
European leaders are unlikely to impose any immediate new sanctions but, officials say, will instruct the European Commission, the union’s executive branch, to prepare the legal and other work needed for further restrictions on Russia’s economic and financial relations with the union’s 28 member states.
Saturday’s meeting of European leaders was originally called to discuss appointments to senior jobs, but the crisis in Ukraine overshadowed the elaborate horse trading for positions among the members.
Capping weeks of haggling among capitals and rival political groups, leaders on Saturday evening named Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland to replace Herman Van Rompuy as the president of the European Council, which sets the agenda for summits and helps represent the union at international gatherings. He is the first Eastern European selected for such a senior position, and his appointment, at a time of growing tensions with Russia, emphasized the growing clout of new members that, having shaken off decades of subservience to Moscow, generally favor a more robust approach to Russia than the union’s older members in the West.
Russia has dismayed European leaders by repeatedly denying that it has sent troops or military hardware into Ukraine. After the Ukrainian authorities released videos on Tuesday of captured Russian troops, Moscow conceded that some of its soldiers had crossed into Ukraine but said they had done so “by accident.”
Rebel leaders say Russian servicemen are fighting in Ukraine during their holiday leave from the Russian Army. Aleksandr Zakharchenko, a separatist leader in Donetsk, said earlier this week that these soldiers “would rather take their vacation not on a beach but with us, among brothers, who are fighting for their freedom.”
Russia’s evasions and denials in response to mounting evidence of its direct involvement in supporting pro-Russian separatists has left even Europe’s more cautious leaders, notably Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, ready to endorse further sanctions. Ms. Merkel said Thursday that Germany still favored a diplomatic solution. However, she said, “we have to note that the situation in the last few days has become more difficult, and worsened.” Since March, she added, European Union leaders had said sanctions would be considered if there was an escalation.
Ms. Merkel has spoken regularly with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, by telephone during the crisis but has had no success in curbing Russia’s support for the rebels, who had been losing ground in face of a Ukrainian offensive. Now, reinvigorated by new arms and fighters from Russia, the rebels are expanding territory under their control.Ms. Merkel has spoken regularly with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, by telephone during the crisis but has had no success in curbing Russia’s support for the rebels, who had been losing ground in face of a Ukrainian offensive. Now, reinvigorated by new arms and fighters from Russia, the rebels are expanding territory under their control.
Mr. Barroso said Saturday that he, too, had spoken by telephone with Mr. Putin and “urged him to change course” during a conversation on Friday. Mr. Barroso said that he, too, had spoken by phone with Mr. Putin and “urged him to change course” during a “long and frank” conversation on Friday.
While not directly accusing Russia of sending soldiers into Ukraine, as Mr. Poroshenko and NATO have done, Mr. Barroso said Russian moves to feed fighting in eastern Ukraine were “simply not the way responsible, proud nations should behave in the 21st century.” Further sanctions, Mr. Barroso said, would “show to Russia’s leadership that the current situation is not acceptable and we urge them to come to reason.” European leaders, he added, had long stated that any further escalation of the conflict would set off additional sanctions, and they would “be ready to take some more measures” at a summit meeting in Brussels that began Saturday afternoon. While not directly accusing Russia of sending soldiers into Ukraine, as Mr. Poroshenko and NATO have done, Mr. Barroso said Russian moves to feed fighting in eastern Ukraine were “simply not the way responsible, proud nations should behave in the 21st century.” Further sanctions, Mr. Barroso said, would “show to Russia’s leadership that the current situation is not acceptable and we urge them to come to reason.”
Saturday’s meeting of European leaders was originally called to discuss appointments to senior jobs within the European Commission. Among jobs up for discussion is the new foreign policy chief to replace Catherine Ashton of Britain. The front-runner for the foreign affairs job is the Italian foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, who has little foreign experience and a reputation for being sympathetic to Russia’s arguments. European leaders, he added, had long stated that any further escalation of the conflict would set off additional sanctions, and they would “be ready to take some more measures” at the meeting in Brussels.
But the crisis in Ukraine has complicated the elaborate horse trading for jobs among the union’s 28 member states and turned the focus of Saturday’s meeting toward discussions of new sanctions against Russia. President François Hollande of France also backed new measures against Russia, telling journalists in Brussels that “what is happening in Ukraine is so serious” that European leaders were “obliged to act by increasing the level of sanctions.
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has been going on for months, mostly around the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. But the conflict expanded last week after the rebels — backed by Russian forces, according to NATO — opened a front along a coastal road leading to the industrial port city of Mariupol. But France is expected to block calls by some leaders to extend an existing ban on future military sales to Russia to include already signed contracts. France has resisted pressure from Washington and some European capitals to cancel a contract for the sale of two naval assault ships to Russia, a deal worth 1.2 billion euros, or about $1.6 billion.
In Mariupol on Saturday, both Ukrainian military units and the civilian population were preparing to defend the city against any assault by the Russian-backed militias, Ukraine’s military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said during a briefing in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. Arriving Saturday for the summit, Dalia Grybauskaite, the president of Lithuania, demanded that existing and future military contracts with Russia be prohibited. Europe, she said, could not “listen to the lies that we are receiving from Putin” and should offer military support to Ukraine. Russia, she added, was “in a state of war against Ukraine and that means that it is in a state of war against countries that want to be closer to the European Union and that means practically that Russia is in a state of war against Europe. That means we have to help Ukraine battle back, to defend its territory and its people, to help militarily.”
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has been going on for months, mostly around rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk. But the conflict expanded last week after the rebels — backed by Russian forces, according to NATO — opened a front along a coastal road leading to the industrial port city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian military units and the civilian population were preparing on Saturday to defend the city against any assault by the Russian-backed militias, Ukraine’s military spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, said in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.
“We are very grateful to the Mariupol residents, who have also helped in the fortification of the city against the armored vehicles of the enemy,” Colonel Lysenko said. The city fell briefly under the control of pro-Russian fighters earlier this year, but after they were driven out it had been firmly in the hands of Ukraine. The governor of the Donetsk region, forced from his headquarters in the city of Donetsk, decamped there to maintain a formal, if largely impotent, government presence.“We are very grateful to the Mariupol residents, who have also helped in the fortification of the city against the armored vehicles of the enemy,” Colonel Lysenko said. The city fell briefly under the control of pro-Russian fighters earlier this year, but after they were driven out it had been firmly in the hands of Ukraine. The governor of the Donetsk region, forced from his headquarters in the city of Donetsk, decamped there to maintain a formal, if largely impotent, government presence.
Colonel Lysenko said that local residents were volunteering to join the armed forces, but that the military had enough men there “to repel the Russian military and its mercenaries.”Colonel Lysenko said that local residents were volunteering to join the armed forces, but that the military had enough men there “to repel the Russian military and its mercenaries.”
He repeated accusations that the Russians were sending arms and men across the border to support rebel fighters, who have declared independent states in Donetsk and Luhansk. “The direct military aggression of the Russian Federation in the east of Ukraine continues,” he said. He repeated accusations that the Russians were sending arms and men across the border to support rebel fighters, who have declared independent states in Donetsk and Luhansk. “The direct military aggression of the Russian Federation in the east of Ukraine continues,” he said, asserting that Russian tanks had entered Novosvitlivka, a small town on the road from the Russian border to Luhansk, and flattened “virtually every house.” He did not give details on when the reported attack took place.
Ukraine also accused Russia on Saturday of helping to shoot down one of its combat aircraft during fighting with the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.Ukraine also accused Russia on Saturday of helping to shoot down one of its combat aircraft during fighting with the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
A statement by the Ukrainian government on the Facebook page for its military operations in the southeast said the Su-25 fighter was shot down on Friday, with the pilot ejecting safely. A missile from a Russian launcher struck the plane, it said, without providing any more details. Colonel Lysenko, the military, spokesman also described low-level skirmishes scattered around the areas controlled by the separatists in southeastern Ukraine.A statement by the Ukrainian government on the Facebook page for its military operations in the southeast said the Su-25 fighter was shot down on Friday, with the pilot ejecting safely. A missile from a Russian launcher struck the plane, it said, without providing any more details. Colonel Lysenko, the military, spokesman also described low-level skirmishes scattered around the areas controlled by the separatists in southeastern Ukraine.
In Moscow, the deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, was quoted as repeating Russian denials that it was supplying men or arms to the fight in Ukraine. Any Russian arms in the hands of the militias came from Ukrainian army stocks captured in the fighting, he was quoted as saying by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Mr. Antonov also raised questions about the international investigation into Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which crashed in southeastern Ukraine in July, killing all 298 civilians on board. Ukraine and its Western allies have said that an antiaircraft missile supplied by Russia downed the plane, likely in error. But Moscow, without providing any evidence, blamed Ukraine.
The Russian official questioned why the data recovered from the black box recorders had yet to be released publicly. “The problem should not be abandoned,” the agency quoted Mr. Antonov as saying. “We should find out what happened in the sky over Ukraine.”