Putin Escalates Again in UkraineThe Pentagon is ready to upgrade Kiev’s radar, but White House authorization isn’t forthcoming.
Russian proxies in occupied eastern Ukraine shelled Ukrainian-government positions over the weekend and on Monday. The artillery barrage killed two civilians and wounded several others in Sartana, near the Sea of Azov. It’s one of the larger-scale escalations of the conflict since a winter cease-fire. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration continues to withhold a radar upgrade that would allow Ukrainian forces to protect against shelling.
Moscow and Kiev agreed under the Minsk II accord negotiated in February to cease hostilities, create a buffer zone and withdraw heavy weapons. Yet “to a big extent [the Russian side] continually violates the agreement,” Gen. Viktor Muzhenko, the chief of staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, told us in a rare interview before the latest escalation. “Some days we can have 80 to 100 violations.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-escalates-again-in-ukraine-1439853482
