Ukraine In Crisis -- News Updates March 21, 2015

Bloomberg: Rebels Plan Offensive in East as Ukraine Fortifies Key Port

(Bloomberg) -- Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine are preparing for a new offensive to expand their territory, signaling a six-week-old truce is in danger of crumbling.

“We’ll try to push them from here to hell because we’re tired of them killing civilians with indiscriminate fire,” Alexander Khodakovsky, who commands the 3,500-man Vostok Brigade, said in an interview at his headquarters in Donetsk. The campaign may start in the “foreseeable future,” according to Khodakovsky, who also heads the security council of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

A rebel offensive would shatter the cease-fire negotiated last month in Minsk, Belarus, and raise the risk of escalating U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia, which they blame for stoking the conflict. Ukraine and Germany, which brokered the accord with France, are calling for fresh talks as President Petro Poroshenko’s government and the insurgents accuse each other of violations.

Update: The above BBC video report sums it up bluntly .... in some parts along the front-line there is no ceasefire.

Ukraine In Crisis -- News Updates March 21, 2015

Ukrainian rebels make new threat to abandon cease-fire -- FOX News/AP
Despite Cease-Fire, Skirmishes Carry On Along Ukraine's Front Line -- NPR
One civilian killed in rebel attack in east Ukrainian town: regional police -- Reuters
Ukraine ceasefire being violated in government-controlled Peski -- BBC
Ukraine peace plan creaks amid fresh Russian-Ukrainian dispute -- Reuters
The woman who leads a rebel Ukraine army unit -- Deutsche Welle
Ukraine: The defenders of Mariupol -- Al Jazeera
The puppy photos that prove Putin was lying: Shots of Russian soldiers cuddling husky pups show that they WERE fighting in Ukraine -- Daily Mail
Volunteers In West Ukraine Keep War Effort Alive, 600 Miles Away -- IBTimes
UK sends military advisers to train Ukraine troops -- CNN
Corrupt, cash-strapped and lacking skill: the Ukraine army Britons come to train -- The Guardian
US to train 750 Ukraine troops as Russian aggression continues -- FOX News
US Paratroopers In Ukraine By April, As 'Normandy Four' Ponder Paris Meet -- IBTimes
Building work continues on 'Great Wall of Ukraine' designed to defend against Russia -- Ukraine Today
Putin's war decimates Ukraine as economy shrinks 15pc -- The Telegraph
Ukraine crisis taking heaviest toll on women, children and elderly – UN officials -- UN News Centre