The leaders of France and Germany flew to Moscow yesterday in a last-ditch effort to negotiate a peace deal for Ukraine, but expectations of a breakthrough were low after gains on the battlefield by pro-Russian rebels.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande met Russia’s Vladimir Putin yesterday evening, a day after five hours of late-night talks with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko.
In a sign of the tense atmosphere, the leaders went straight into the Kremlin for talks, without the usual diplomatic niceties of a welcoming handshake for the cameras. They emerged briefly after a 75-minute working dinner for a photo opportunity in an ornate Kremlin hall, before talks resumed later yesterday.
An official from a major EU country, who declined to be identified, gave a gloomy prognosis, saying Putin would have little reason to urge the rebels to back down while they are advancing.
Russia cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe, because that is exactly what they are doing
“He does not appear to have any incentive to back down now. The separatists are in control and they are taking more territory. He can sit back and wait as the pressure steadily builds on Ukraine and its leaders,” the official said.
In fact as Merkel and Hollande were in Moscow to press for peace talks in intensified diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, Russian air force helicopters were practising ‘precision’ shooting drills near the Ukrainian border as part of a two-week training exercise in an area that abuts eastern Ukraine, now nine months into an armed rebellion by pro-Russian separatists. Merkel and Hollande fear the fighting could spark conflict elsewhere in Europe.
US Vice President Joe Biden who is in Europe to boost aid for Ukraine, said yesterday this is a moment when the United States and Europe must stand together, stand firm. “Russia cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe, because that is exactly what they are doing.”
This latest step to secure peace in Ukraine follows fierce fighting and territorial gains in eastern Ukraine by the separatists.
They show no signs of easing back despite the calls for a diplomatic solution.
On the ground in eastern Ukraine, a brief truce was organised so trapped civilians could reach safety from Debaltseve, a government-held railway hub nearly encircled by rebel forces who have made it the target of their advance.
Both sides sent convoys of buses, giving residents a choice to evacuate to government or rebel territory. The government buses left full; the rebel buses left mostly empty.