Putin rules out war as top diplomats meet
Foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were meeting to try to revive a shaky cease-fire in east Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out an “apocalyptic scenario” of all-out war.
Top diplomats from the four countries were to meet in Paris, with Kyiv accusing Moscow and pro-Russian rebels on the ground of torpedoing the truce.
“The Minsk agreements are not being respected and everyone has to say clearly that this cannot go on,” a high-ranking Ukrainian diplomatic source said.
Fighting has dropped off significantly since rebels ignored a truce to seize the strategic transport hub of Debaltseve last week, but clashes still continue around strategic flashpoints.
Ukraine’s military said its forces in the conflict zone came under fire 12 times overnight and rebels had again tried to storm a village east of key port town Mariupol.
The continuing clashes have delayed a pull-back of heavy weapons that was due to start a week ago under the peace plan.
Kyiv refuses to withdraw its big guns from the frontline until the shooting stops definitively.
The latest fighting came as Putin whom Kyiv and the West accuse of masterminding the conflict said he thought the prospect of all-out war between Russia and Ukraine was unlikely. Asked by Russian state television if he thought the current situation could lead to a direct confrontation, Putin said: “I think that such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely and I hope that it will never happen.
“If the Minsk accords are complied with, then I am sure that the situation will gradually get back to normal.”
He added: “No one needs a conflict, moreover an armed one, on the periphery of Europe.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom warned it could cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine within two days, upping the stakes in the crisis there and threatening supplies to the rest of Europe.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE