The West thought it had a struck a deal with Russia last week in Geneva, one that saw all sides – including the Russian and Ukrainian governments – agree to help disarm illegal groups and end the occupation of seized buildings. It was supposed to calm the situation in eastern Ukraine, while the cherry for Russia appeared to be that the deal made no mention of returning the Crimean Peninsula, which it had seized and annexed in March.

But the pro-Russian militants continued to dig in for a fight, while the Ukrainian government appeared reluctant to carry out its end of the deal by ousting the Ukrainian nationalists who still occupy parts of central Kiev two months after the pro-Western revolution there. Amid the rising violence in Slavyansk – which followed a serious of kidnappings and killings near the city – the Geneva deal now appears to be in tatters, with Russia and the West trading barbs over which side is not fulfilling it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-slide-towards-a-20th-century-war-in-eastern-europe/article18202271/