The more he fails, the more determined Ukrainian President Poroshenko is to fight?

The defeat on the battlefield has made Ukraine clearly show its "craving" for military aid, not a peaceful solution to the Eastern problem.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on February 4 called on NATO to urgently supply weapons to his country. According to him, terrorist attacks in Volnovakha and Donetsk as well as the shelling of Mariupol have led to “the urgent need to receive modern weapons from NATO.”

Conflict escalates out of control

A residential area in Donetsk devastated by conflict (photo: Reuters)

Recent fighting in eastern Ukraine suggests the conflict has reached a new level. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on February 5 that escalating fighting between the Ukrainian military and the opposition could lead to “a complete loss of control” in eastern Ukraine.

Notably, on February 4, an armed leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said that the Su-25 fighter jets of this force had attacked government troops from the air for the first time.

“Our Su-25 was in the sky over the Artemivsk-Debaltseve highway area and attacked a convoy of trucks and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army,” the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said.

Earlier, a defense leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic also announced that separatist forces had shot down a fighter jet of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Kiev government has not yet responded to the statements of the eastern separatist forces.

February 3rd was the bloodiest day in a week of fighting. In just 24 hours, 16 more Ukrainian civilians were killed in violence in the East. The United Nations warned that the new wave of violence could become “a catastrophe”. The Ukrainian army also reported that five soldiers were killed in fighting with opposition forces near Debaltseve.

At a joint press conference in Warsaw, Poland on the afternoon of February 5, Ukraine's Western allies sounded the alarm over the opposition's advances in the East. The situation tilting in favor of the opposition has prompted Western countries to consider providing weapons to the Ukrainian government, and the German Chancellor and French President visited Ukraine and Russia with proposals to resolve the conflict.

Peace initiative is not as strong as arms aid commitment

Ukrainian leaders appear to be less interested in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in the East than in calling for military aid.

Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield (photo: AP)

BBC quoted the Ukrainian Prime Minister in a meeting with French and German leaders that Kiev does not consider any peace plan that affects unity and territorial integrity.

Sharing this view, Ukrainian President Poroshenko, on the one hand, supports the new peace initiative; on the other hand, he insists that this initiative should not give the eastern opposition forces too many benefits.

Mr. Poroshenko demanded that the opposition comply with the Minsk Peace Plan: “that is, an immediate ceasefire, the release of all prisoners of war, the closure of the border or the restoration of internationally recognized borders. The withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukraine, the initiation of political reform through local elections in Donetsk and Lugansk according to Ukrainian law.”

With NATO, Mr Poroshenko said: “The alliance needs to ensure greater support for Ukraine, including through the provision of modern weapons to protect and counter the rebels and aggressors.” The Ukrainian president stressed that he wanted peace, but this required a strong army with modern weapons.

After meeting with US Secretary of State Kerry on February 5, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk was “quite pleased” with the news that “the US government will soon provide Ukraine with some weapons”. The aid is estimated to be worth a total of 3 billion USD, including anti-tank missiles, Humvees armored vehicles, unmanned attack helicopters, radars, etc.

French, German initiative for Ukraine conflict

On February 6, French and German leaders arrived in Moscow to meet with Russian President Putin to propose a new peace plan in the hope of gaining approval from all parties to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko (center) during a meeting with German and French leaders (photo: Reuters)

According to French President Hollande, the initiative drafted by him and Mrs. Merkel is based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and hopes to be accepted by all parties. Also yesterday, US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kiev with a statement of support for the German and French initiative.

Russian officials said they did not yet know the details of the Franco-German initiative but hoped it would be constructive.

Observers say that the French-German proposal is a “counterweight” to the peace plan that Russian President Putin proposed in January 2015. If it is a counterweight, it seems that the possibility of the new initiative being accepted by all parties is very difficult.

Commenting on the Franco-German initiative, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that at a time of fierce fighting like this, the initiative only needs to bring a ray of hope and reduce bloodshed in the Eastern European country, but we cannot expect it to be a turning point in resolving this escalating crisis./.

According to VOV