Why Putin Will Fight On in Ukraine: "Putin wants to develop a military advantage so he can talk to Ukraine and its Western allies from a position of strength... Putin doesn't want to give Ukraine any more time to build up its military with Western help: He wants a lasting deal soon... Putin will fight on in Ukraine, having convinced himself that the West is aiming to destroy Russia."
Why Putin Will Fight On in Ukraine Wednesday January 28 th , 2015 at 2:59 PM Bloomberg View 1 Share As Ukraine burned again last weekend, Western leaders stubbornly stuck to their chosen path: No appeasement and no military action, just more economic sanctions against Russia. It's a sure-fire way to get more Ukrainians killed. Even as President Barack Obama claimed in his State of the Nation speech on Jan. 20 that Russia was "isolated," with "its economy in tatters," pro-Russian separatists -- and probably some regular Russian units -- pushed Ukrainian troops out of the ruined Donetsk airport after 200 days of what had been held up as a brave Ukrainian resistance. They then moved to encircle Ukrainian soldiers near Debaltseve and, last weekend, shelled the port city of Mariupol , killing 30 civilians. To understand why the separatists and their Russian allies decided to end almost four months of relative passiv