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"The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea," said Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump's envoy to the world body. "Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine."

Sources told CNN Thursday evening that the White House was aware in advance of Haley's speech. A source told CNN's Dana Bash that Haley didn't get direction from the White House but she wasn't asked not do to it. Another source told CNN's Elise Labott the National Security Council signed off on the remarks.

The first source said Haley made clear in private conversations as well as during her confirmation hearings how she felt about hot spots like Russia, though her point of view clearly differs from some of what the President said during the campaign.

As a candidate, the President hinted he might recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. In the weeks before and after his inauguration, Trump's refusal to condemn Russian hacking during the election and his attacks on the intelligence community for investigating those hacks raised questions about his ties to Moscow.

At a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May last week, he said it was "too early" to discuss sanctions.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department slightly eased a sanction the Obama administration put in place against Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the FSB.

A top State Department official said the move was made as a technical fix to the sanctions that were put in place to avoid "unintended consequences" of US government business with Russia.

While Washington was taking that step, Haley was lobbing verbal grenades. "I consider it unfortunate that the occasion of my first appearance here is one in which I must condemn the aggressive actions of Russia," she said. "We do want to better our relations with Russia. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions."

"The sudden increase in fighting in eastern Ukraine has trapped thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure and the crisis is spreading, endangering many thousands more," Haley added. "This escalation of violence must stop."

At one point in the charged meeting, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko, held up a photo of a Ukraine serviceman who was killed days ago. Looking at the Russian ambassador, Yelchenko said, "You killed him."

While Haley's remarks echoed many speeches delivered by the Obama administration's UN ambassador, Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told reporters that he thinks "there is a change in tone" with the new US administration. He added that he wasn't surprised by Haley's speech.

Some analysts see the surge in fighting as a Russian test of US resolve or perhaps an attempt to send Ukraine a message that after years of Obama administration support, the Trump administration will be more friendly to Moscow than Kiev.

Fighting between Russian-backed rebels from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Ukrainian army exploded a day after Trump had his first phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. Russia accuses Ukraine of starting the escalation.

Churkin said that Ukraine was "desperately, frantically trying to achieve a military settlement to the conflict." He blamed Kiev for the recent escalation, saying it was meant to keep the issue "on the international agenda" and "at the same time suck in with their reckless confrontational policy newly elected heads of state."

The UK Ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, told the UN meeting that "we frequently hear from the Russian government, as we did today, that all the problems in eastern Ukraine are the consequence of actions by the Ukrainian government.This is simply not the case. It is an inversion of reality."

He later tweeted, "Great #UNSC debut speech by @NikkiHaley today. Fully agree that sanctions must remain until #Russia returns control of #Crimea to #Ukraine."

Balazs Jarabik, a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who studies Central and Eastern Europe, notes that the rebels used rockets that were in flagrant violation of the Minsk Agreement, a ceasefire pact meant to end the fighting.

"Why did they violate it so visibly?" Jarabik asked. "I think there's merit to the speculation that the Russians wanted to show that Kiev doesn't have the backing it used to have from the US."

And initially, the US response was seen as tepid at best. A January 31 statement from the State Department condemned the violence, but didn't mention Russia or contain the statement of support for Ukraine that was customary during the Obama administration.

"There was panicking" in Ukraine after that statement, Jarabik said, speaking from Kiev. "There were Ukrainian pundits saying it's the end of US support -- because it had such a different tone than the Obama administration. The so-called unwavering support seemed gone. It was sending shock waves."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have long called for a more supportive approach to Ukraine. They often criticized the Obama administration for its refusal to provide Kiev with defensive weapons.

On Thursday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida called again for the US to provide weapons. "Vladimir Putin's continued aggression against the people of Ukraine is outrageous, and further destabilization in the region will have profound negative consequences for us here in America," Rubio told CNN.

He noted that Trump's new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis both advocated during their confirmation hearings for providing Ukraine with weapons to defend its sovereign territory.

"I hope President Trump will heed their advice," Rubio said. "We must stand with the people of Ukraine during this difficult hour and make clear to Putin that relations will not improve until Russia respects Ukraine's sovereignty."

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey drew a link between Trump's mollifying approach to Russia and the aggression in Ukraine. "At the mere hint that President Trump would take a softer stance towards Russia, we have already seen pro-Russian forces emboldened and renew fighting" in eastern Ukraine, he told CNN.

Menendez is part of a bipartisan group of senators who have introduced the Countering Russian Hostilities Act, which he said would hold Russia accountable for its international aggression and interference in the US election.

"I sincerely hope both the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans don't make the mistake of walking away from longstanding, responsible policies to counter Russian aggression," he said.

CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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UN Ambassador Haley hits Russia hard on Ukraine ...

A top rebel commander in Ukraine has reportedly been killed in a car explosion. (AFP file image)

A top rebel commander in eastern Ukraine was killed along with another person when their car exploded, rebels have reported.

The rebels' Lugansk Information Center reported today that Lugansk People's Militia commander Oleg Anashchenko died in the explosion along with an unnamed person.

Ukraine's military, meanwhile, said three soldiers were killed in shelling over the past day.

Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels has escalated over the past week in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 33 people, including civilians, and wounding several dozen.

More than 9,800 people have died since the war began in April 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke late Saturday with US President Donald Trump, who he said expressed "deep concern" over the escalation.

During the call, a statement issued by Mr Poroshenko's office said the two leaders "noted the urgent necessity of establishing a complete cease-fire."

The Ukrainian president thanked Mr Trump for his "strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Mr Poroshenko has cast the outburst of fighting as an argument for continuing Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.

The White House said Mr Trump had a "very good call" with Mr Poroshenko.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Mr Trump said in a statement.

The government-held town of Avdiivka, just north of the main rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, has been the focus of the fighting.

A temporary cease-fire had been called to allow workers on both sides to restore electricity to freezing residents as shelling eased for much of the day. But the Ukrainian military said rebel forces began a mortar barrage of Avdiivka in the evening.

The daily shelling has left locals in the industrial town of about 35,000 traumatized.

Mr Trump's repeated promises to improve relations with Russia have fueled concern in Ukraine that Washington would back off some of the sanctions.

However, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has said sanctions imposed for Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea will remain.

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Ukraine rebels claim top commander dies in car bombing - 9news.com.au

AVDIYIVKA, Ukraine -- Residents of this front-line flashpoint city awoke to relative calm on February 4 after a week of heavy artillery bombardments that shattered lives, killed dozens, and caused President Petro Poroshenko to declare a state of emergency.

The lull came before a phone call that was scheduled to take place between Poroshenko and U.S. President Donald Trump around 11:45 p.m. Kyiv time. Ukraine has looked for support from Trump, who has said he wants to improve relations with Russia.

Pavlo Malykhin, the citys head of civilian and military affairs, told RFE/RL he believed the welcomed lull was due to a local cease-fire brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes special monitoring mission to Ukraine and the Joint Center for Control and Coordination, which includes Ukrainian and Russian military officers.

At a makeshift humanitarian center beside the citys soccer stadium, there were almost as many emergencies services workers as residents. It was a marked change from every other day this week, when thousands poured in to receive rations and warm themselves.

An employee inspects a hole left in the roof of an Avdiyivka auto parts store after an artillery shell came crashing through.

Two buses available for people wanting to evacuate the city sat empty and idling in the parking lot. At the citys main hospital, medics said no casualties were reported overnight and that the relative calm had allowed them to get some sleep.

But the shelling did not completely cease. A late-morning attack on one Avdiyivka neighborhood damaged three houses and a car. Malykhin said that 114 residential homes, including eight multicomplex apartment blocks and 22 individual apartments, have been damaged by shelling since January 29.

An RFE/RL correspondent heard sporadic booms of outgoing and incoming heavy artillery, but there were noticeably fewer of them before midday on February 4. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement that it had no information about casualties.

Dozens of people have been killed, including civilians, and scores injured in renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine since January 29. The UN and EU have issued urgent pleas for talks to prevent a "catastrophe" in a conflict that has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014.

In Donetsk, the stronghold of the Russia-backed separatists fighting against Ukrainian government forces, several buildings, including a kindergarten, were reportedly damaged.

A Ukrainian tank rumbles through the outskirts of Avdiyivka en route to a battlefield position.

Yet Malykhin described the situation here on the morning of February 4 as "relatively calm" and "stabilized" compared to previous days.

Emergencies services workers around the city utilized the quiet time to work on restoring electricity and patching up damaged facades and broken windows, Malykhin said.

He added that he hoped the railway station, which he said had also sustained some damage from shelling, would also be repaired.

In old Avdiyivka village on the eastern edge of town, which has borne the brunt of the recent surge in hostilities, Valentyna Stetskova and Borya, who did not give his last name, were cooking buckwheat porridge in a field kitchen beside a church damaged by a mortar overnight.

Through thick steam swirling around them, they said they get their rations and other products from volunteers and humanitarian organizations upon whom they rely because fighting has caused food shortages in the city.

Life has been hard these past three years, they said, but especially in the past week. The heavy shelling had forced them to retreat to their basements.

"We are surviving," Stetskova said. "Surviving and nothing more."

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After Weeklong Bombardment, Devastated Ukrainian City Awakens To 'Relative Calm' - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

By Maxim Eristavi By Maxim Eristavi February 3 at 2:12 PM

Maxim Eristavi is a nonresident research fellow with the Atlantic Council and co-founder of Hromadske International, an independent news outlet, based in Kiev.

The citizens of Ukraine have never had any illusions about the international communitys willingness to take their side in their bloody conflict with Russia. Ukrainians collectively roll their eyes whenever one of their well-meaning friends abroad expresses grave concern about Moscows aggression, because those fine-sounding words are so rarely followed by concrete actions.

But at least they knew they could count on the Americans. Ukraine and the United States have enjoyed friendly relations for a good 25 years now. And over for the past two years ever since Moscow seized and occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and then launched its invasion of the countrys eastern territories shortly thereafter Ukrainians always saw Washington as their most important diplomatic ally. That was especially true when it came to maintaining and imposing sanctions aimed at holding the Russian military in check.

Now that long-standing alliance appears to be over. On Jan. 28, President Trump spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The conversation, by all accounts, was marked by an air of friendship and conciliation. In the hours that followed, the fighting in eastern Ukraine suddenly spiked. The number of explosions tracked by monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) skyrocketed from 420 on Jan. 26 to 10,330on Jan. 31, the sharpest increase ever recorded by the observers. Targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure have left potentially hundreds of thousands of people in the region without water even as they face temperatures well below freezing. Ukraine now confronts a major humanitarian crisis, as thousands of civilians in the government-controlled town of Avdiivka huddle in the dark and cold under intense shelling by combined Russian and separatist forces.

This appalling situation prompted a public outcry from several countries. But as the fighting escalated, many Ukrainians were desperately waiting for a strong statement of support from their biggest ally, the United States. It never came at least not in the form they were hoping for.

Few in Kiev ever really had illusions that the new U.S. president would continue his predecessors policy of criticizing and constraining Russia for violating their countrys territorial integrity. Many Ukrainians had suspicions about Trump. For many years, Trump associates earned big money in Ukraine by lending their skills as consultants and advisers to the spectacularly corrupt ex-president Viktor Yanukovych. As a candidate, Trump made his sentiments amply clear by refusing to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and demonstrating his admiration for Putin.

Even so, the break between the two allies came much faster than anyone in Ukraine had expected and at the worst possible moment.

It took the State Department almost two days to come up with a reaction to the escalating violence. Finally, on Jan. 31, a spokesman in Washington issued a shockingly bleak statement that didnt mention Russia once. This is a drastic departure from the previous language used by the United States, which was notable for exposing and acknowledging Moscows predominant role in the conflict.

The U.S. Embassy in Kiev, meanwhile, limited itself to a single tweet expressing concern about children trapped in the fighting. During the crisis of 2014-16, Ukrainians had come to view the embassy as a messaging powerhouse offering round-the-clock statements of support. Now, its true enough that Ukraines political elites cheered a surprisingly strong statement from the U.S. mission to the OSCE blaming Russia for the escalation; it was published a few hours before the State Department reaction. But it soon became clear that this message was a lonely exception, perhaps representing a last desperate act by some U.S. official intent on sticking to the old course.

Ukrainians took heart from the statement by the Trump administrations new ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, who denounced the aggressive actions of Russia and pledged to keep sanctions in place until Moscow pulls out of Crimea. But it is all too evident in Kiev that her sentiments are not shared by the one man who counts. Only strong words from the State Department or the White House itself would be enough to undo the damage at this point, and Ukrainians arent holding their breath.

In any case, the United States refusal to take a decisive stance on the violence in eastern Ukraine sends a clear signal to Kiev: The friendship is over. And it doesnt really matter whether the shift is the result of skillful Kremlin maneuvering or some sort of concessions offered by the Trump administration out of public view. The United States reaction to the latest carnage in eastern Ukraine offers a disturbing snapshot of the new geopolitical reality that is now taking shape.

U.S. disinterest also enables radicals within the Ukrainian political elite by removing all constraints on their behavior, too. Some members of parliament recently traveled to the front line to join far-right paramilitaries in enforcing an illegal economic blockade of the occupied territories. The sudden evaporation of strong international support for Ukraine has brought crucial reforms to a halt as corrupt elites suddenly dont feel any pressure to deliver on the conditions tied to Western aid packages.

The end of the U.S.-Ukraine alliance will also have a terrible effect on civil society, which remains crucial to the countrys continuing transformation. Its nearly impossible to count all the times in the past three years when pressure from the U.S government, often low-profile, helped activists to deflect attacks on independent journalists; to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people; or to push forward urgently needed reforms.

All this should provide some idea of the damage Trumps policies are already causing in Ukraine. And I suspect that our country wont be the only one affected.

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The United States abandons Ukraine - Washington Post

An icy amusement has been carved in Ukraine's Zaporozhye region, right in the middle of the famously wide and picturesque Dnieper River. A team of enthusiasts there have turned the ice covering the river into a functioning merry-go-round.

Called the 'icy carousel' by the local media, the object appeared in Zaporozhye in southeastern Ukraine this week.

Carved by a team of four people, it is located some 50 meters (164ft) into the Dnieper River, which is currently covered with ice 20cm (8in) thick.

The merry-go-round is a round block of ice some 12 meters (40ft) in diameter, with its creators calling it an "art object."

The attraction was inspired by similar winter amusements in Finland, one of the men behind the carousel told local media, as he took to the river, power-saw in hand.

A man in Finland took the internet by storm in January, when he turned a circular block of ice into a carousel, operated by an outboard motor. The amusement ride carved on a lake near his country house became so popular that the inventor decided to make a larger copy of it near Helsinki, using solar power to move the ice.

The daring team in Zaporozhye cut smaller blocks of ice around the main circle. They then put the carousel into action with the help of those bricks, by pushing it with paddles.

Saying that the icy block estimated to weigh around 2 tons (4,000lbs) simply cannot sink, they've invited everyone to take a ride.

Five meters (16ft) of freezing water beneath the carousel is nothing to be worried about either, they suggest.

Meanwhile, local emergency services have said the ride is "dangerous" and asked people not to take risks by giving it a try, Zaporozhye's 061.ua news reported.

According to emergency officials, the ice is not thick enough to hold many people. They've also warned that because the ice on the river had been carved, cracks might appear, making it "even more dangerous."

Having reminded the locals that they don't live in Scandinavian countries with colder climates, officials said temperatures above zero degrees Celsius are expected in the region, and warned people to stay away from the shaky amusement.

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Icy carousel: Merry-go-round carved on frozen river in Ukraine (VIDEO) - RT