KIEV-- Western powers are clinging to a fraying peace deal in Ukraine and forcing Kiev to follow suit, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of wavering and NATO is warning that Moscow may be preparing for a new offensive.
The United States and European Union are still backing the three-month old ceasefire, despite a growing feeling that it is in its death throes, telling Putin that sanctions will remain if he does not honour his promises.
This offers little consolation to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who, while under pressure at home over a steady loss of troops fighting pro-Moscow rebels in the east, has to keep in diplomatic step with the West whose political and financial help
he needs.
His feelings showed in Berlin on Wednesday when a German journalist suggested eastern Ukraine was relatively calm.
"I'd like to contradict that because Ukraine is paying a very high price today for this pseudo-ceasefire," he retorted, noting 83 Ukrainian servicemen had died since a second peace deal was signed in the Belarus capital of Minsk in February.
"Ukraine is losing heroes every day but we continue to absolutely support the Minsk agreements," he told ZDF TV.
Few people in Kiev believe Putin will lessen his support for the separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 6,100 people in just over a year. He may simply be waiting till the EU decides in June on extending sanctions on Russia's financial,
defence and energy sectors before showing his hand.
REUTERS
