The U.S. and Global Security Review - Blog by Michael Novakhov

Perhaps the Minsk accord hasn't failed yet. But the situation in Debaltseve shows that peace in eastern Ukraine just can't be reached with diplomacy alone... There can be no talk of a truce when a strategically important city is captured. Nothing could be further from the withdrawal of heavy weapons than attackers advancing in tanks under the massive use of rocket launchers. Even at the Minsk summit, there was not much hope for de-escalation in eastern Ukraine. In Debaltseve, the separatists completely ignored the first two goals of the 13-point accord: truce and the withdrawal of heavy weapons. They massively broke the ceasefire in order to create a precedent. Thus, they made sure all diplomatic efforts come to nothing. The fall of Debaltseve is not just a military disaster for Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, but a political disaster. He faces massive domestic criticism of the Minsk accord...  But danger looms on the horizon: From Debaltseve, it's not too far