U.S. and European leaders threatened new sanctions against
Moscow after a missile attack blamed on pro-Russian separatists
killed 30 civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the
latest escalation in violence that has brought Kiev's fight with
rebels back toward full-scale war.
Russia reacted with defiance, blaming Kiev and its Western
backers for the surge in fighting, but it also called for urgent
talks on implementing a September cease-fire. Separatists backed
off earlier threats of a broad offensive on Mariupol and other
targets, but shelling along the contact line between the two sides
was extremely heavy over the weekend, Ukrainian military officials
said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned about
the latest break in the cease-fire and escalating separatist
aggression, saying he would continue to ratchet up pressure on
Russia. "I will look at all additional options that are available
to us short of a military confrontation in trying to address this
issue," the president said at a Sunday news conference in New
Delhi.
The European Union, saying the rebels "bluntly refuse to
observe" the cease-fire, called an emergency meeting of foreign
ministers for Thursday to discuss a response.
Diplomats said it isn't yet clear whether the West is unified
enough to agree on substantial new sanctions against Russia. The
latest explosion in violence came as a surprise, just as the EU had
begun considering the conditions under which it could start to ease
some limits on Russia. The U.S., meanwhile, is wary of taking major
new steps without Europe's support.
Publicly, the Kremlin remains defiant, appearing confident that
the Russian public will blame the West for the worsening economic
pain caused by sanctions and the fall in oil prices. Kremlin
insiders say the leadership is giving mixed signals on whether it
is seeking to win an easing of sanctions by pressuring Kiev into a
truce or preparing for further escalation.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, a
top Russian official suggested the standoff with the West could
last decades and said the government was looking at the experience
of regimes that suffered years of international isolation, such as
South Africa's apartheid government. Moscow's apparent resilience
amid a 50% drop in the value of its currency and an economy pushed
into recession has left Western capitals struggling to find
effective levers to get the Kremlin to change direction.
"The question is going to be whether they continue to pursue a
path where that not only is bad for the people of Ukraine but is
bad for the people of Russia, and are we able to continue to raise
the costs even as we're creating an off-ramp diplomatically that
eventually the Kremlin starts pursuing a more sensible policy in
resolving this issue," Mr. Obama said on Sunday.
The EU's foreign-policy chief, Federica Mogherini, warned on
Saturday that further violence in eastern Ukraine "would inevitably
lead to a further grave deterioration of relations between the EU
and Russia."
But several senior EU diplomats on Sunday said there were no
concrete ideas on the table yet for fresh Russia sanctions and the
discussion of options was only starting.
The EU has already introduced restrictions on trade, defense and
energy links with Russia and has targeted dozens of Russian
officials and separatist leaders with a freeze on assets and travel
restrictions.
Among the steps the EU and U.S. could take is widening the net
of companies frozen out of Western financial markets to include
more state-run firms or private companies. They could also ban
exports of technology related to the gas industry in addition to
measures against Russia's oil sector.
One measure that has been discussed previously is whether to
seek to knock Russia off the so-called Swift network, which is key
to making global financial transactions. In the past, diplomats
have said that would likely be a last resort.
Any fresh measures must be backed by all 28 EU member countries
and could face stiff resistance from Hungary, Cyprus and Greece,
which have repeatedly expressed concerns about the measures.
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and a former
Polish prime minister, signaled he favored a tough response. "Once
again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of
violence," read a post on his Twitter feed. "Time to step up our
policy based on cold facts, not illusions."
Also on Saturday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization accused
Moscow of "supporting (the) offensive operations" of the
separatists with heavy weapons. Russia has consistently denied such
charges.
In separate phone calls on Sunday with Ms. Mogherini and U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov laid the blame for the latest surge in violence on Kiev,
which he accused of violating the terms of the September cease-fire
by shelling rebel-held cities, the ministry said. He called on his
Western counterparts to push Kiev back into negotiations.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied violating the
cease-fire and said he remained committed to the September
agreement.
But some in Kiev are wary that with rebels advancing, talks are
likely only to cement separatist gains. Oleksandr Danyliuk, a
senior official in the Poroshenko administration, said, "Any talks
will create a new reality in which Ukraine will most likely be the
loser. We can do nothing but resist in every way possible."
Rebels said over the weekend they were pulling out of cease-fire
talks because they hadn't yielded results. Separatist leaders sent
mixed signals on their military aims, however. After initially
announcing after the Mariupol missile strike that a broad attack on
the Ukrainian-held city was under way, top rebels reversed
themselves and told Russian state television they weren't planning
a siege.
Saturday's missile strike hit a residential area, killing 30 and
wounding about 100. Monitors from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe said the missiles came from rebel-held
territory, though separatists denied responsibility.
Ukrainian officials said there was no sign of a major assault on
Sunday on Mariupol, a strategic port city that has been largely
spared from the fighting. A rebel push on Mariupol would be a major
escalation, but taking the city would give the economically
challenged rebels a much-needed seaport.
On Sunday, Ukrainian military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said
elsewhere on the front, rebels were "shelling our forces with
extraordinary intensity using artillery, mortars,
grenade-launchers, tanks and "Grad" missile launchers."
Heavy fighting was reported around Debaltseve, a Ukrainian-held
transport hub northeast of the rebel capital of Donetsk. Rebel
leaders said on Saturday that they aimed to surround Ukrainian
troops there. Russian military observers in the city evacuated last
week, citing security concerns, the OSCE said.
Military analysts say the rebels" latest push appears to be an
effort to straighten out the jagged line dividing the two sides and
make their self-declared state more secure. The separatists won a
symbolic victory in that drive last week, forcing Ukrainian troops
to retreat from the devastated Donetsk airport.
Colleen McCain Nelson and Matthew Dalton contributed to this
article.
Write to Gregory L. White at greg.white@wsj.com and Laurence
Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
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