The WSJ reports,"Ukrainian forces used aircraft and artillery against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country Tuesday, as fighting intensified after President Petro Poroshenko declared an end to a 10-day unilateral cease-firethat had failed to stop the violence".
"The active phase of the antiterrorist operation resumed this morning," Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov, told legislators in Kiev on Tuesday. "Our armed forces are striking the bases and staging areas of the terrorists."
The decision to use the army represents a bet by Mr. Poroshenko that Kiev's ragtag forces can oust the increasingly well-armed militants who have taken over swaths of the east. Sporadic fighting had continued through the cease-fire even as separatist leaders said they would join.
Mr. Poroshenko's supporters had grown impatient, believing the cease-fire and peace talks were buying time for the insurgents to dig in. Negotiations yielded few results, as did several telephone conferences between Mr. Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Germany and France.
Mr. Putin criticized Ukraine's decision on Tuesday but didn't give any clear signals of how Moscow might respond.
"Unfortunately, President Poroshenko made the decision to resume military operations," he said in a foreign policy speech to Russian diplomats. "And we, by that I mean myself and my colleagues from Europe, weren't about to convince him that the road to a reliable, strong, long-term peace can't lie through war."
Mr. Putin laid the blame for the crisis on the U.S., saying the tensions resulted from a continuation of Cold War-era policy. He said many European officials are more sympathetic to Moscow's position and oppose allowing their countries to become what he called "hostages" to U.S. geopolitical interests.
