Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post
The town has fallen, thankfully most of the Ukrainian forces were able to withdraw rather than being captured, although some were apparently taken.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31519000

I liked this quote, "The rapidly deteriorating situation inside Debaltseve and its possible fall to Russian-backed forces - despite a ceasefire brokered specifically to avoid this scenario - raises a number of questions but one in particular: What were Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande thinking?"

What indeed?

So far diplomacy has benefited Russia, they aren't even using the fig leaf of the Separatist leaders any more, Germany and France have been negotiating directly with Russia, not the rebels.

So - lets review - two Minsk deals - neither held up by Russia - no benefit to Ukraine, her neighbours, or the West.

Can we stop pansying about now?

Russia isn't THAT scary in a conventional war and they aren't going to fire off Nukes over Ukraine so at what point are we going to mobilise, when they take Poland?
Seriously? You want to send your country's troops to fight in this conflict?

Putin initially tried to bargain for a ceasefire 10 days later than the final agreement finally provided for. The purpose of that was obviously to give the rebels time to capture Debaltseve, which suggests that he wasn't negotiating with the intent of breaking the deal afterwards.

Some people claim that the rebels are Putin's puppets, while Russia claims it has no involvement in the dispute at all. I'm guessing that neither is true; Russia provides the rebels with the means to fight but has limited control over what they do with them.