11 more Ukraine troops killed, EU mulls fresh curbs on Russia
KYIV Hesitant European leaders on Wednesday launch a fresh debate on adopting new sanctions against Russia for its perceived backing of Ukrainian insurgents that could boomerang against their own fragile economies.
The Brussels discussions come as three months of fighting that has already claimed more than 600 lives threatens to spill into all-out civil war with potential repercussions for neighbouring European nations.
Ukraine called the incident a “provocation” by the separatists aimed at making it look like the new pro-western leaders in Kyiv were bombing ethnic Russians who cherish their Soviet-era ties with Moscow.
Kyiv reported the death of 11 more servicemen overnight and warned that Russia had parked thousands of troops along its entire border with Ukraine in preparation for a possible invasion.
Washington has issued increasingly transparent hints that it was growing impatient with the EU’s cautious approach and preparing to adopt punitive steps against Russia’s defence and financial sectors on its own.
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Vasyl Zvarych argued that “vast proof of Russia’s involvement in the rebels’ actions provide further grounds for adopting tougher sanctions – a third level of sanctions aimed at countering Russia’s aggression.”
But EU diplomats have previously said they were only ready to expand targeted measures against Russians and pro-Kremlin Ukrainians held responsible for the bloody uprising and Moscow’s earlier annexation of Crimea.
Diplomatic sources said EU leaders would on Wednesday consider halting or curbing funding for new projects in Russia provided through the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB).
In telephone conversations with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, late on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko again set out evidence of fighters crossing into Ukraine from Russia with heavy military equipment, his website said.
The indirect Contact Group talks are being mediated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and have seen Kyiv represented by former president Leonid Kuchma.
Merkel’s office said she and Poroshenko had agreed by telephone that “Russia has been insufficient in meeting expectations” on steps to end Ukraine’s worst crisis since its independence in 1991.