Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
UKRAINE’S NEW LEADER extended a tenuous truce with pro-Moscow rebels today after signing a landmark EU deal on closer relations and possible future membership that drew immediate threats of retaliation by Russia.
President Petro Poroshenko’s decision to prolong the ceasefire agreement until 1900 GMT Monday came after three hours of urgent consultation with his top defence official that began on his return from a historic summit in Brussels with the original one-week truce having already lapsed.
Separatist commanders in Ukraine’s heavily Russified eastern rustbelt had earlier said they also agreed to halt fire for 72 hours to give the first indirect contacts on ending nearly 11 weeks of fighting a chance to work.
Poroshenko had earlier hailed his signing in Brussels of the EU Association Agreement — a 1,200-page document defining the political and trade terms under which Kiev will slip from the Kremlin’s embrace — as a turning point for a country that straddles a geopolitical fault line between Europe and Russia.
The deal also bursts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dream of enlisting Kiev in a Moscow-led alliance that could rival the European Union and NATO.
The Kremlin immediately vowed to take “all the necessary measures” against Ukraine.
But Poroshenko argued in Brussels that the deal offered Ukraine “an absolutely new perspective” and “the opportunity to modernise”.
“It is a historic day, the most important day since independence,” he declared.
US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the political association and free trade agreements — also sealed on Friday with ex-Soviet Moldova and Georgia — as a “major step” to building “a Europe whole, free and at peace.”
“I think it is noteworthy that exactly what President Putin was trying to prevent from his interfering in Ukraine has now happened,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf added.
- © AFP 2014.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Surprised China agreed to the sanctions in the U.N…..Good diplomacy on part of US…This may be final blow to North Korea might lead to slow end of the regime there…
@John003: it’s not something President Trump’s predecessor could get the chinese to go along with.
@Martin Black: That’d presumably be because the Chinese are feeling the pinch now like everybody else. They feel abstaining is no longer enough. The big problem for China is their worry about what comes next. North Korea has not just been a nuisance to them but also a convenient buffer. Without that ambiguous attitude all of this wouldn’t have been happening in the first place.
@John003: Every part of asia has US nuklear weapons pointing at them. would the trump like that on his doorstep?
@Sean Conway: what difference does ot make if you have one country with thousands of nuclear weapons or several country’s around you pointing the same countries weapons at them? USA has russia that points it’s arsenal at them. It’s mutually assured destruction and it’s surprisingly effective at keeping peace.
Good job they decided to cap the importation of diesel and kerosene. That will put a stop to the 2ltr Diesel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and the shorter range home heating oil powered rockets.
He’s a modern day John Lennon!!
@Martin Black: John Lennon wrote his own stuff.
This is a more effective approach than Trump’s bellicose and empty rhetoric.
Trump needlessly inflamed and provoked a rogue leader.
Fortunately, the UN Security Council has take a more rational and proportionate approach.
There is no need for kiling hundreds of thousands of people. All human beings are of value, regardless of nationality.
The UN security council is not independent of the countries in it…..China has changed its decades long stance on North Korea have to give Trump some credit for that. …However these UN sanctions may lead to famine in North Korea this winter with populal unrest against Kim….
@Fiona deFreyne: The UN only agreed because of pressure exerted by Trump. The same can be said of the Chinese. Appeasing tyrants is a huge mistake.
@Fiona deFreyne: Please enlighten us, where has the “more effective” appeasement that has been the status quo for the past three decades got us? Maybe we should wait until DPRK has nuclear warhead ICBMs with global reach or maybe we should wait until they have submarine launch capability with capability of no warning global strike.
No, appeasement has got us nowhere and it’s time for a new approach before the game is up.
the sad part of all this is its the ordinary people of north Korea who’ll suffer most. Kim will make sure his big fat ar$€ is kept warm this winter &hes well fed &cosy..doesnt give a damn about his people
Kim the rocket man may go play with his Lego instead of rockets.
have your say