Call it a modern day battlefield demarche. Gen. Phil Breedlove, NATO supreme allied commander, took to Twitter and Facebook to reach Ukraine’s new military chiefs and request talks with toward ending the violent uprisings now drawing worldwide attention.
“I am calling upon the new military leadership in Ukraine to open a dialog with us to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution,” Breedove wrote on his Twitter feed, @PMBreedlove. . . .
“There will be consequences if people step over the line. And that includes making sure the Ukrainian military does not step into what should be a set of issues that can be resolved by civilians,” Obama said. . . .
The statement by Breedlove, a U.S. Air Force general who is also commander of U.S. forces in Europe, is a clear indicator that the Pentagon is worried that Ukraine’s protests — which began in November as a show of support for the European Union against closer ties with Russia — have erupted into a potentially destabilizing event for the region. Now there is worry Ukraine’s military may be positioning itself for an internal crackdown alongside the state’s security forces.
Image: Tweet by SACEUR Gen. Philip Breedlove