The fall of Debaltseve to pro-Russian rebels backed by regular Russian forces marks the conclusion of Moscow’s second Donbass campaign, with the next military target likely to be Mariupol or Kharkiv, or both. As intermittent firing on the ceasefire line continues, Western diplomats continue to delude themselves that all is not lost and that the deal may still hold. Indeed, the Minsk II ceasefire may hold for a time, or it may unravel in a flash—but only at the whim of Vladimir Putin. The West is completely irrelevant here.
But how long Minsk II endures matters less than the impact of …read more
Source: The American Interest
