The Financial Times quotes Transatlantic Relations Program Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s decision to not renew the ten-day ceasefire in the eastern part of the country:
The president himself, in a late-night television broadcast to Ukrainians, and his aides have insisted this week that he was right to resume the attacks on separatists who repeatedly defied the ceasefire, killing nearly 30 Ukrainian soldiers.
“Despite some initial pressure from the US and Europe to extend this ceasefire, in the end he took the only choice he could,” said Adrian Karatnycky, senior fellow at the US-based Atlantic Council think-tank, visiting Kiev for discussions with high-level officials.
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“If they want a ceasefire to work, Russia has to know that Europe will be prepared to implement another level of sanctions if they violate it,” Mr Karatnycky said.