The tense military standoff continued in Ukraine on Wednesday, even as leaders convened in Europe to discuss potential resolutions to the crisis, and Hillary Clinton compared Russia’s actions to Nazi Germany.
US Secretary of State John Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Paris, but a senior US official told Reuters that “no agreements” had been made. The official added that there “never will be without direct Ukrainian government involvement and absolute buy-in.”
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Speaking after the talks, Kerry said: “We agree to continue intense discussions in the coming days with Russia, with the Ukrainians, in order to see how we can help normalize the situation, stabilize it.
“We cannot and will not allow the integrity and sovereignty of the country of Ukraine to be violated… Russia’s violation has actually united the world in support of the Ukrainian people,” Kerry added.
Lavrov left the meeting today without meeting Andrii Deshchytsia, his Ukrainian counterpart. When asked why the men had not met, Kerry said: “I had no expectation, zero expectation, that today that kind of meeting would take place… We did not ask the foreign minister to come here with that purpose.” The US Secretary of State explained that they invited the Ukrainian minister as it would have been “inappropriate” to discuss the situation with consulting him too.
Russia continues to insist that they have not invaded Ukraine and the troops currently roaming Crimea are simply Crimean self-defense forces.
Protests rumbled on throughout Ukraine, with pro-Russian groups storming a government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Wednesday and briefly hoisting a Russian flag over the building, according to local reports.
This served as a counter demonstration to the pro-Ukrainian protest that took place in Donetsk last night, as an odd tit-for-tat pattern of rallies develops.
Pro-Ukranian protests in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Pro-Russian protests in the same city, one night later.
Foreign ministers from the US, UK, and Ukraine also met in Paris earlier today, after Kerry and UK minister William Hague called a meeting of the Budapest Memorandum to discuss a diplomatic and political end to the crisis. The only signatory to this agreement that did not send a representative was Russia, whose conspicuous absence was noted by Kerry.
“Well, we are glad to have our friends here from Ukraine and Great Britain,” the US Secretary of State said. “Regrettably, missing one member, but we will be meeting hopefully this afternoon with that additional member.”
The Budapest Memorandum is a 1994 treaty between the US, UK, Ukraine, and Russia that ensured territorial security and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up their stockpile of nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union collapsed. All three members present at the meeting declared that Russia’s incursion is a violation of this agreement.
The European Union also announced plans for a $15 billion aid package to Ukraine in order to help the recovery of the severely weakened economy and fledgling post-revolution government, which is contingent upon Ukraine joining the International Monetary Fund. This comes after the US pledged to donate $1 billion of aid yesterday, following Kerry’s visit to Kiev.
The aid package, which is far larger than previously anticipated, was a counterweight to Russia’s offer of exactly the same amount to former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych before he was ousted.
In a slightly less diplomatic move, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly drew an explicit comparison yesterday between Vladimir Putin’s current actions in Ukraine and Adolf Hitler’s provocations in 1930s Europe that preceded World War II.
“Now if this sounds familiar, it’s what Hitler did back in the 30s,” Clinton said at a closed event, according to the Long Beach Telegram. “All the Germans that were… the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying they’re not being treated right. I must go and protect my people and that’s what’s gotten everybody so nervous.”
