Kerry comes to Kiev, as US ponders sending weapons to Ukraine(RT)

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Ukraine to discuss Kiev’s plea for weapons, laid all of the blame for the conflict’s escalation on Russia, and disregarded Kiev’s intensified assault on rebel-held areas.

Kerry said Washington preferred a diplomatic solution to the conflict and argued “Russian aggression”was the greatest threat to Ukraine.

“We want a diplomatic solution but we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from Russia and coming into Ukraine,” Kerry told journalists following his meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

He also said it was impossible to ignore “Russian fighters in unmarked uniforms crossing the border, and leading individual companies of so-called separatists in battle.”

Russia has long rejected allegations of its troops being engaged in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

“I say it every time: if you are so sure in stating that, confirm it with facts. But no one can or wants to provide them,”Russian Foreign Minister said in January.

READ MORE: Lavrov on Obama speech: Efforts to isolate Russia will fail

Kerry has urged the Russians to comply with the Minsk peace agreements signed in September and said the rebel fighters were to pull their heavy artillery from the areas where civilians could be affected. He neglected to mention Kiev’s compliance with the peace agreements, and the heavy weapons used by the government troops.

The concession from Kiev the US Secretary of State spoke about was the special status law for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Kerry said Poroshenko still supported the idea.

Kerry has brought with him an offer of $16.4 million in humanitarian aid, according to US officials. But the possibility is high of arms supplies being part of the Kerry and Poroshenko meeting agenda, as it’s something the Ukrainian president has been vigorously calling for.

“The escalation of the conflict that’s happening today, the increasing number of civilian casualties… should move the alliance to provide Ukraine with more support,” Poroshenko told German newspaper Die Welt, as cited by AP.
“(That) includes, among other things, delivering modern weapons for protection and for resisting the aggressor.”

President Barack Obama’s pick for defense secretary, Ashton Carter, said on Wednesday he was in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine.

“The nature of those arms, I can’t say right now,” he said. “But I incline in the direction of providing them with arms, including, to get to what I’m sure your question is, lethal arms.”

READ MORE: US defense sec. nominee ‘inclined’ to arm Ukraine, defends ISIS strategy

The possible supplies of US weapons to Ukraine threaten Russia’s security, TASS quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, as saying on Thursday.

“We are very seriously concerned by these plans. Taking into account the revanchist plans of the ‘party of war’ in Kiev, this could not only escalate the conflict in the southeast, but also threaten the security of Russia,” he said, adding that Russian territory has been shelled several times from the Ukrainian side.

The possibility of the Obama administration reversing its Ukraine crisis policy and sending lethal assistance to Ukraine was first reported on Monday by the New York Times.

Moscow has slammed Washington’s readiness to supply weapons to Ukraine as double standards.

“Elsewhere in the world, our Western partners are calling for dialogue between the authorities and the opposition. Everywhere in Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. “But Ukraine is for some reason an exception. Western colleagues say that in Ukraine the most important thing is to support Kiev’s actions.”

READ MORE: US mulls providing Kiev forces with ‘defensive’ weapons – report

Vice President Joe Biden argued on Wednesday that the US had “no interest in military escalation.”

“But Ukraine has every right to defend itself and we are in fact providing security assistance to help Ukraine in this effort,” he added in an interview published on European news sites and cited by AP.

Biden will join NATO officials on Friday for a series of meetings in Brussels.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is already there, among NATO defense ministers who spoke on Thursday of boosting the alliance’s presence in Europe in order to counter any possible threat from Russia.

Part of the plan is to increase the size of NATO’s rapid reaction force in the region from 13,000 to 30,000 soldiers and to introduce a fast-reacting 5,000-strong “spearhead” force.

The alliance announced on Wednesday it was expanding its Polish headquarters and reinforcing six command centers in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the three Baltic states.

Kerry’s visit to Ukraine in tandem with Biden’s and Hagel’s visit to Europe, all focused on the Ukraine crisis, come as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are visiting both Kiev and Moscow, pledging to come up with a peace deal acceptable to all parties.

READ MORE: Kremlin confirms Hollande, Merkel visit to discuss end to Ukraine civil war

Kerry won’t come to Moscow with Merkel and Hollande, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told journalists.

The latest escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine started in mid-January after Kiev announced a mass operation against Donetsk airport, in violation of a previous ceasefire agreement.

There have since then been almost daily reports of civilian casualties in the conflict. Five people died in shelling on a hospital in Donetsk on Wednesday.

The UN has warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in the region.

US-Söldner in der Ostukraine 2014:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2014/05/14/ukraine-2014amerikanische-soldner-im-osten-der-ukraine-falls-diese-vermutung-des-bundesnachrichtendienstes-tatsachlich-wahr-sein-sollte-ware-das-ein-desaster-fur-den-westen-ein-burgerkrieg-wurde/

 http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2014/03/14/ukraine-2014-die-rede-von-angela-merkel-am-13-marz-im-bundestag-was-alles-fehlt/

 http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2014/03/10/ukraine-2014-der-beruhmteste-kriegsgrund-der-jungeren-geschichte-waren-die-massenvernichtungswaffen-saddam-husseins-die-gab-es-nie-aber-deswegen-marschierte-das-us-militar-vor-elf-jahren-in-den/

Irakkrieg und Ölreserven – Brasiliens Bischofskonferenz:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2011/08/26/der-irakkrieg-und-die-position-der-brasilianischen-bischofskonferenz-cnbb-kriegsmotiv-sind-olreserven-o-real-motivo-para-a-guerra-sao-as-reservas-de-petroleo-do-segundo-maior-produtor-mundial/

Ausriß. John Kerry – “Killing poor people is patriotic.”

http://vineyardsaker.de/novorossiya/verschiedenes-vom-tag-5-februar/#more-2497

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Merkel und Hollande zu Marionetten in Kiew 2015 – dazu üblicher NATO-Agitprop der Illustrierten ” Der Spiegel” und anderer deutscher Blätter. Was alles fehlt…Kabarett “Die Anstalt” zu NATO-Medien: “Aber dann sind diese Zeitungen ja nur sowas wie die Lokalausgaben der NATO-Pressestelle?” **