Donald Trump finally gets tough on Vladimir Putin as US says it won’t lift sanctions until Russia gives back Crimea
Announcement comes as fighting flares up again around town of Avdiivka, north of Donetsk
DONALD Trump appears to finally be getting tough with Vladimir Putin after his ambassador said the US would not be lifting sanctions until Russia gives back Crimea.
Nikki Haley, Trump’s choice for America’s representative at the UN, made the announcement yesterday.
Haley said measures imposed in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea would remain in place "until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine".
Many in Ukraine had feared that Trump’s seemingly soft stance on Russia would lead to Putin becoming more aggressive as American support ebbed away.
But the ambassador blasted Russia's "aggressive actions" in the country and promised strong US support to Kiev.
In her first public remarks at the UN Security Council, Haley said: "We do want to better our relations with Russia.
“However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”
A surge in fighting in the country’s troubled east has presented President Trump with an early test of his policy on Russia.
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His ambassador said: "The United States stands with the people of Ukraine who have suffered for nearly three years under Russian occupation and military intervention.
"Until Russia and the separatists it supports respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, this crisis will continue."
The sharp escalation of fighting since Sunday in the town of Avdiivka, north of Donetsk, raised concerns of a humanitarian crisis.
At least 23 people have been killed in mortar and rocket attacks and some 20,000 were left without heat or water in freezing winter weather.
Haley added: "This escalation of violence must stop."
Ukraine and Russia used the council meeting to accuse each other of being responsible for the flare-up of fighting.
Ukrainian Ambassador Vlodymyr Yelchenko said Russia blocked repair work to restore electricity to Avdiivka.
He said: “This is another clear evidence of the Kremlin's intention to create a humanitarian catastrophe in Avdiivka as it was done by the Russian army in Aleppo.”
But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused Kiev of starting the fighting to attract international attention and draw support from the new US administration.
Churkin told the meeting: "Kiev is trying to use the clashes that they themselves started as a pretext to pull out of the Minsk agreements."
The Minsk agreements, backed by France and Germany, lay out a series of measures to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine – but they have been beginning to falter.
The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people since 2014, more than 2,000 of whom were civilians.
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