Rebels press Ukraine offensive, Obama promises steps …

By Douglas Busvine and Alessandra Prentice

NEW DELHI/KIEV Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:41pm EST

Pro-Russian separatists stand next to a military truck in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, January 21, 2015.

Credit: Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko

NEW DELHI/KIEV (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow rebels, backed by what NATO says is the open participation of Russian troops, pressed on with their offensive on Sunday after restarting the war in eastern Ukraine with the first all-out assault since a truce five months ago.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington was considering all options short of military action to isolate Russia. The European Union called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers of its 28 member states.

"We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the ceasefire and the aggression that these separatists -- with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops -- are conducting," Obama told a news conference during a visit to India.

"I will look at all additional options that are available to us short of military confrontation and try to address this issue. And we will be in close consultation with our international partners, particularly European partners."

NATO accuses Moscow of sending troops to fight on behalf of rebels in territory the Kremlin has dubbed "New Russia" in a war that has killed more than 5,000 people.

In some of the strongest language ever from Brussels, Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who now presides over EU summits as European Council president, denounced "appeasement" of Moscow, a word with unmistakable World War Two connotations.

Read the original here:
Rebels press Ukraine offensive, Obama promises steps ...

Related Posts

Comments are closed.