LEADERS of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Belarus’ capital Minsk on Wednesday to discuss a peace plan for eastern Ukraine, Germany says.
It comes after leaders of the four countries discussed the ongoing conflict by telephone on Sunday.
However, in a dramatic gesture at a gathering of world leaders in Germany on Saturday, Ukraine’s President Poroshenko brandished passports and military ID cards he claimed were seized from Russian soldiers deep inside his territory, offering what he said was ‘evidence’ of Russia’s presence in the country.
The leader who came to power via a fascist-led coup said: ‘Today a former strategic partner is waging a hidden war against a sovereign state.’
Britain yesterday accused President Putin of acting like a ‘tyrant’ over Ukraine, but said Kiev’s forces could not defeat Russia’s army on the battlefield and that only a political solution could end the bloodshed.
‘Ukrainians can’t beat the Russian army, that’s not a practical proposition. There has to be a political solution,’ UK Foreign Secretary Hammond told Sky News.
‘This man (Putin) has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country’s territory in the 21st century acting like some kind of 20th century tyrant.’
His comments to Sky’s Murnaghan came after US Secretary of State John Kerry had made similar remarks but had insisted there was no split with Europe over handling the crisis.
He threatend the longer it lasts ‘the more we will raise the costs to Russia – international borders cannot be changed by force in Ukraine or anywhere else’.
However, President Barack Obama is near to a decision over sending arms to the Ukraine government, which has been rejected by Germany’s Angela Merkel, who argued it would not help the situation.
Hammond told Murnaghan: ‘Britain’s position is that at the moment we do not think that supplying arms is the right thing to do but obviously if the situation on the ground changes we’ll keep that position under review.’
He also insisted that Western sanctions were having an impact. ‘When coupled with the catastrophic effect on the Russian economy of the decline in the oil price they are putting pressure on the Kremlin.
‘Putin is toughing this out but we all know in the end the economic facts cannot be ignored.
‘If your economy is cratering you cannot support the kind of foreign adventures Putin is undertaking. He will have to trim his behaviour to reflect the decline in the Russian economy.’
Hammond did not deal with the situation that would arise if the gamble that Russia will capitulate did not materialise.
The UK Foreign Secretary also branded Moscow’s ‘annexation of Crimea’ illegal and said it must be reversed.
He said: Civilised nations do not behave like that. We do not see any reason to tolerate this kind of outrageous and outdated behaviour from the Kremlin.’
Merkel said of her plan: ‘It is uncertain whether it will lead to success, but from my point of view and that of the French president it is definitely worth trying.’
President Hollande told French TV station France 2 that the proposal includes the creation of a 50- to 70-kilometre demilitarised zone based around the present front line.
Hollande said the stakes could not be higher, warning that the renewed peace plan was ‘one of the last chances’ to halt the 10-month-old conflict.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US was weighing ‘additional’ assistance to Ukraine.
President Putin meanwhile said ‘Russia is not at war and does not want war with anyone. . .
‘There’s no war, thank God. But there is definitely an attempt to curb our development,’ Putin said in Moscow.
