Tension remains very high in Ukraine, awaiting the decisive summit in Minsk scheduled for tomorrow. After US President Barack Obama told Chancellor Angela Merkel: “We evaluate the sending of arms if diplomacy fails", the reply from Moscow was not long in coming, which through the Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov let it be known that i plans to tighten sanctions against Russia and to supply arms to Kiev's troops "are steps that unfortunately are directed towards destabilization".
The conflict continues and escalates in the eastern part of the country, where a military base and a nearby residential district of the city of Kramatorsk, in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, were hit, according to what President Petro Poroshenko denounced to the Verkhovna Rada. The attack, which Kiev has attributed to separatist forces (which however deny involvement), also caused civilian casualties, with the toll rising to seven dead and 26 wounded. Grad and Tornado rockets were allegedly launched from nearby Horlivka.
