UK guilty of 'catastrophic misreading' of Ukraine crisis, Lords report claims

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11. Ukraine's latest defeat confronts West and Obama with costly zero-sum game

Amsterdam: There are two ways to look at the loss of Debaltseve in Ukraine – a final combat convulsion before both sides honour last week's Minsk ceasefire agreement; or just another humiliation of Ukrainian forces by Russian-backed separatists, of which there have been many.

The trajectory of this conflict suggests the latter. But the timing of the rout at a strategic transport hub in the country's east risks elevating it to what historians might record as a tipping point, at which Washington succumbed to pressure to supply lethal weapons to the Kiev government.

A recent marked change in US President Barack Obama's rhetoric – from "we will not" to "I've asked my team to look at all options" – coincides with a ramping-up of pressure from think tanks and others for Washington to arm Kiev to the tune of billions of dollars.

But the battle for Debaltseve has already been quite instructive – about what Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to describe as an army of former miners and tractor-drivers can do, if given access to the weapons warehouses of a superpower; and about the awful training, morale and discipline of what pass for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

http://www.watoday.com.au/world/ukraines-latest-defeat-confronts-west-and-obama-with-costly-zerosum-game-20150220-13kctu.html