NATO to Hold Special Meeting on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin says a “NATO legion” is fighting against rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, and that its goal is to contain Russia.

“We often say: Ukrainian army, Ukrainian army. But who is really fighting [in eastern Ukraine]? There are official divisions of the armed forces but to a great extent there are so-called voluntary nationalist battalions. This is not even an army, it’s a foreign legion. In this case it’s a foreign NATO legion,” Putin said, speaking before university students in the city of St. Petersburg.

“[They are there] with the aim of geopolitically containing Russia, which is absolutely not in the national interests of the Ukrainian people,” he said.

Putin also accused Kyiv of refusing to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine peacefully.

NATO meeting on Ukraine

NATO officials say they will hold an “extraordinary” meeting Monday to discuss the resurgence of fighting in the eastern part of the country.

Ambassadors from the 28 NATO members and Ukraine plan to meet within hours in Brussels.  Reuters reports the meeting is being held at the request of Kyiv.

Ukrainian servicemen guard their position in the village of Luhanska, Luhansk region, Jan. 24, 2015.Ukrainian servicemen guard their position in the village of Luhanska, Luhansk region, Jan. 24, 2015.Ukrainian servicemen guard their position in the village of Luhanska, Luhansk region, Jan. 24, 2015.Ukrainian servicemen guard their position in the village of Luhanska, Luhansk region, Jan. 24, 2015.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but has upped its cooperation with the alliance since Russia annexed Crimea in March of last year. NATO has also set up several trust funds to help Ukraine improve its security forces in the face of what Kyiv and the West see as a Moscow-instigated rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier Monday, Ukraine’s military said seven of its soldiers had been killed in the past day during renewed fighting. Officials say at least 24 soldiers have been wounded in the violence.

The recent escalation in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels in the east has prompted Ukraine’s government put the country on high alert Monday.

Specter of new sanctions

U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders on Sunday threatened new sanctions on Russia after rebels launched a deadly rocket attack on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol the previous day.

Obama said he would “ratchet up” pressure on Moscow following the attack that killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 80 others when rockets slammed into a market and apartment buildings.

“We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the [Ukrainian] cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists, with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops, are conducting. And we will continue to take the approach that we have taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on Russia, and I will look at all additional options that are available to us short of military confrontation and try to address this issue.”

Some European leaders have recently talked of easing economic sanctions against Moscow.  But Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who currently serves as president of the European Union, tweeted in a message, “Once again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence. Time to step up our policy based on cold facts, not illusions.”

EU foreign ministers are to discuss the latest violence in Ukraine on Thursday.

Some material for this report came from Reuters.