U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry put the ball squarely in Russia’s court Thursday for finding a peaceful end to the devastating conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying the biggest threat Ukraine faces is “Russia’s continued aggression” there.
In a news conference in Kiev, Kerry said that Ukraine’s “best weapon” in its fight to maintain its sovereignty and independence are the reforms that its government has begun, including rooting out corruption and fixing its financial system.
Kerry spoke alongside Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who stressed the importance of achieving peace.
“But we will never consider anything that undermines (the) territorial integrity, sovereignty (and) independence of Ukraine and its European future,” Yatsenyuk said.
Earlier, Kerry and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke in Kiev. Kerry called on Russia to take three steps he said would enable a diplomatic solution “that is staring everyone in the face.”
Those are: pulling back heavy weapons beyond the range of civilian populations, removing foreign troops and heavy equipment from Ukraine, and closing the Russia-Ukraine border.
The United States wants peace, Kerry said. “But we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from Russia and coming into Ukraine, we cannot close our eyes to Russian fighters in unmarked uniforms crossing the borders, and leading individual companies of so-called separatists into battle.”
Kerry also highlighted modern weapons such as rockets that he said were crossing the border from Russia in breach of a peace agreement signed by Russia, Ukraine and the separatists in Minsk last September, which swiftly crumbled.
At the same time, Kerry said, no one — not the United States, not Poroshenko, not the European Union — wants conflict with Russia.
“We don’t view this as a zero-sum game; we have never viewed it that way,” he said. “This is not meant to be, nor should it be, a divide between East and West. This is about rule of law; it’s about the norms by which nation states behave.”
He urged Russia to make choices that would pave the way to peace through its actions, not words.
Kerry also called on both sides to release hostages they hold.
Kiev and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Russia of fostering the conflict by sending military personnel and equipment over the border into Ukraine. Moscow denies the claims and says it supports a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
‘No Russian tanks’
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told CNN that Kerry’s speech “just shows the unwillingness and inability of the United States to participate in settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
“As for Russian tanks, allegedly crossing Russian-Ukrainian border, we’ve commented on this before — there are no Russian tanks or army in Ukraine, such accusations are not true,” he said.
Peskov called an upcoming meeting between Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande “a positive step in settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
As part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts to turn the tide toward peace, Hollande and Merkel announced Thursday they would travel that day to meet with Poroshenko, as they push a joint proposal for new negotiations.
They will then go on to Moscow on Friday to meet with Putin.
Hollande said the proposal would be “based upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
According to the Kremlin’s official website, Putin held a meeting with Russia’s Security Council in preparation for the visit by Merkel and Hollande.
Russia ‘failing the test miserably’
Kerry is meeting with several Ukrainian leaders, including Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, while in Kiev.
Besides discussing the Russian threat, Kerry said, Poroshenko emphasized his personal commitment to reform in Ukraine, including supporting a law that provides greater economic and political rights to eastern Ukraine and pursuing real constitutional reform.
Kerry’s visit comes amid a worsening of the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine that is claiming a growing number of civilian lives.
Both sides in the conflict have been blamed for shelling civilian areas.
Earlier Thursday, a senior U.S. State Department official who spoke to reporters on board Kerry’s plane to Kiev described eastern Ukraine as being in a “dire” security situation, and warned of a “grave acceleration of the fighting on the ground.”
The official said Russia is “failing the test miserably” as to whether it is serious about negotiations. The Russian people are “paying for this imperial adventure,” the official said.
NATO considers new command and control units
As the diplomats shuttle back and forth, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ministers would decide on a new measure in response to the rising tensions to the alliance’s east: establishing command and control units in six eastern member nations.
The new proposal would mean setting up dedicated teams in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, said NATO spokesman Tony White.
Each team would have 40 to 50 staff officers, half of them locals, in order to improve NATO training and facilities in each country.
“These units will make it easier to deploy NATO forces rapidly,” said Stoltenberg.
Russia is unlikely to welcome the prospect of more NATO forces stationed close to its western border.
Putin last month called the Ukrainian army “a NATO legion” that has the geopolitical goal of containing Russia rather than defending Ukraine’s national interests, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
Pattern of Russian behavior
Stoltenberg told a news conference that NATO “strongly supports Ukraine” with political and practical support, and would continue to do so. Ukraine is not a NATO member.
NATO’s bolstering of its forces in eastern member states is a response to a “pattern” of Russian behavior that’s seen it violate the territorial integrity of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, he said.
Russia continues to disregard international law in its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and in sending military personnel, arms and equipment into Ukraine, Stoltenberg said. That influx has enabled the separatists to launch the attacks seen in recent weeks, he added.
Stoltenberg said he would hold bilateral meetings in Munich, Germany, this weekend with Kerry, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
As the fighting in Ukraine continues, eight civilians were killed and 33 injured as the result of shelling in Donetsk city in the past 24 hours, according to the city’s official website Thursday.
Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 28 injured in the same time period, according to the Ukrainian General Command media office.
‘Defensive lethal aid’
It emerged this week that the United States is now considering sending aid to help the Ukrainian government fend off attacks from pro-Russian rebels in the eastern part of Ukraine. This assistance would come in the form of so-called defensive lethal aid, which could include anti-tank, anti-air and anti-mortar systems.
Asked if France would join the United States in providing such equipment to the Ukrainian military, Hollande said “the option of negotiation, of diplomacy, cannot be extended indefinitely.”
But the French President emphasized that first, both he and Merkel were working together toward a proposal they hope will be acceptable to all parties in the conflict.
“We want to develop a German and French negotiation document, along with Ukraine and also with Putin,” he said.
“If we succeed, we will have avoided an escalation of the conflict. If we fail, and this hypothesis remains, what will be said? That France and Germany will have done everything they could do to take action to resolve the conflict.”
The European Union and United States have imposed a series of financial sanctions against Russian interests and those of separatist leaders in Ukraine.
Urgently needed aid
Kerry announced Thursday that the U.S. government intends to provide $16.4 million in new humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians affected by the violence.
“The funding will be used to support the Ukrainian government’s response to the crisis caused by Russia’s aggressive actions and will also help alleviate the suffering of people in conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine,” a State Department statement said.
“Many of these people are extremely vulnerable and unable to leave.”
The new aid will include shelter, blankets, bedding, warm clothing and other support, the statement said. It takes the total humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine by the United States since the conflict broke out last spring to $38 million, it added.
Including these funds, the United States has provided over $355 million over the past year to help Ukraine establish security, restore economic stability and carry out reforms, it said.
Civilians increasingly are falling victim, with at least 224 killed and more than 540 injured in the final three weeks of January, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday.