When German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande returned from Minsk over the weekend, there was a fragile hope that the cease-fire agreement they secured might halt fighting in eastern Ukraine. That hope was smashed this week in Debaltseve, a rail junction between the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces retreated from the city, which has been the scene of intense fighting. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did his best to put a positive spin on things. “Debaltseve was under our control, it was never encircled,” he told reporters before departing for a visit to the …read more
Source: Foreign Policy
