“Putting Ukraine in an untenable position,” editorial, The Washington Post, August 8:
“Nearly six months after Russia agreed to an immediate ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, its forces continue to shell and rocket Ukrainian positions on a daily basis. …it has built military bases and deployed 9,000 troops inside Ukraine and stationed another 50,000 just outside the border, according to Ukrainian and NATO officials. …
“How are Western governments responding to this aggression? Last month the Obama administration slightly tightened existing sanctions on Russia, and the Pentagon announced that training of Ukrainian special forces would be extended to regular army units. Mostly, however, the United States has joined with France and Germany in applying heavy political pressure – on the government of Ukraine.
“…U.S. officials have been leaning on the democratically elected and pro-Western administration of Petro Poroshenko to adopt constitutional changes and authorize elections that would legitimize the authorities Russia installed in eastern Ukraine and grant the areas they occupy a special legal status. …
“…the German and French governments have enlisted the help of the Obama administration in seeking unilateral Ukrainian compliance with Minsk 2’s onerous political terms, which if fully implemented would implant a Russian-controlled entity inside Ukraine’s political system.
“…The Obama administration… ought to be doing more to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, so that Russia will be deterred from the offensive it is threatening – and it should tell European allies that the political solution they are trying to force is unworkable as well as wrong.”