Ukraine: A divided Western front is playing into Putin’s endgame - By Mark MacKinnon

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea last March, the European Union, Canada and the United States have sought to maintain a united front aimed at pressuring the Kremlin to reverse course in Ukraine.

Over those eleven months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to blink, despite the widening range of economic sanctions aimed at Moscow as more and more evidence emerged that Russia was providing direct military aid to separatists fighting in the Donetsk and Lugansk region of southeastern Ukraine.

Now, with the pro-Russian rebels again on the advance in the east – and the Ukrainian economic free fall exceeding even Russia’s own economic troubles – there appear to be cracks in that Western unity, with European leaders seeking a peace that many in Ukraine might find difficult to accept. The United States, meanwhile, is considering arming the Ukrainian army in apparent anticipation of a longer and bloodier conflict.

Read more: A divided Western front is playing into Putin’s endgame - The Globe and Mail