It’s been pathetically easy to predict that the mealy-mouthed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and puny French President Francois Hollande would stand reality on its head to avoid unequivocally blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for the breakdown of the present “cease-fire.”
His separatist proxies, backed by regular Russian troops, didn’t pause for a moment after the cease-fire was supposed to begin at midnight on Feb. 15 and smashed their way into the key railway city of Debaltseve four days later. Ukrainian troops were sacrificed by their government, which forbade them to use artillery and armor to once again demonstrate Kyiv’s earnestness in adhering to cease-fires it knows will be broken.
On Feb. 19, Ukrainian troops retreated from Debaltseve with, I fear, many more casualties – dead and wounded – than Kyiv wants to admit.
Meanwhile the Russians – and it is the regular Russian forces, not the toothless, yokel, poorly-trained thugs that form the “separatist” pro-Moscow fighters that are invading Ukraine – are continuing their advance.
And with sickening hypocrisy Merkel maintains that although there have been serious breaches of the cease-fire it’s not yet “dead.” Both she and Hollande assiduously avoid saying who has breached the cease-fire as if apportioning blame equally in advance of abandoning Ukraine.
“We tried our best,” they will plead.
After a short interval they will resume business with Moscow as usual. Perhaps Merkel will replace her predecessor German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Gazprom’s board of directors. Will Hollande sail in on the Mistral aircraft carriers France delivers to Russia or only fly in for their official launch and the crazy Russian partying?
The despicable duo ignore the overwhelming evidence from their own intelligence agencies, that of the United States & NATO (aren’t the Germans still part of NATO? The French, we know, are only when it suits them) that Putin has been behind every step of the Ukrainian invasion and conflict and that his soldiers took Debaltseve and are now heading to other destinations in Ukraine.
Conveniently for Merkel, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe can’t provide incontrovertible proof of Russian involvement because the Russians wouldn’t allow them to enter Debaltseve while it was being pummeled by Russian artillery, tanks and when regular Russian soldiers were milling around, including, reportedly photographed, the deputy commander of all Russian infantry.
Askold Krushelnycky is a former chief editor of the Kyiv Post.
