Russia, Ukraine rebels have new ability to launch short-notice attacks: NATO
Brussels, May 11, 2015 (AFP) -- Russia and pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine now have the capacity to launch new attacks "with very little warning" after a sustained military build-up, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.
"In eastern Ukraine, Russia and the separatists (now) have capabilities which enable them to launch new attacks with very little warning time" in violation of a ceasefire agreed in February, Stoltenberg said.
NATO chief cites "disturbing" trends in eastern Ukraine
Brussels (dpa) - The situation in eastern Ukraine is headed "in the wrong direction" despite a ceasefire agreement reached in February, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Monday.
"We see more loss of life, a rise in ceasefire violations,
obstruction of the monitors and continued Russian support for the separatists. This is a disturbing trend in the wrong direction," Stoltenberg told journalists in Brussels.
NATO foreign ministers are due to discuss the situation in Ukraine later this week, when they will meet in the Turkish city of Antalya.
The talks will also touch upon "the strategic implications of a more assertive Russia," Stoltenberg said.
Moscow has "a special responsibility" to ensure that the Ukraine ceasefire deal is implemented, he added, expressing "great concern" that there has "over such a long time" been a support for Ukrainian separatists and a Russian military build-up along the border.
"In eastern Ukraine, Russia and the separatists have capacity, capabilities which enable them to launch new attacks with very little warning time," he noted. "They have the capacity - what the intention is, I will not speculate on."
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are to discuss the crisis in a meeting on Tuesday in Sochi.
More than 6,000 civilians have been killed in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions since the conflict started in April last year, according to the United Nations.
Kerry to meet Putin in Russia on Tuesday: US
Washington, May 11, 2015 (AFP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the State Department announced.
The two men will "discuss a full range of bilateral and regional issues, including Iran, Syria, and Ukraine," spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday, on what will be Kerry's first trip to Russia in two years amid tensions over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
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Russia, Ukraine rebels have new capability to launch short-notice attacks: NATO
Reports Say Kerry, Lavrov To Hold Talks May 12
Russian news agencies are reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 12 to discuss ongoing unrest in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen.
State news agency RIA Novosti cited a source as saying the Kremlin hopes Kerry will bring new proposals on settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The unnamed source said that Lavrov plans to tell Kerry that military support for Ukraine is unacceptable.
The source told RIA Novosti that Moscow does not expect a "breakthrough" from Kerry's visit but still called the visit "very important."