Russia ‘ready to hit back’

RUSSIA is under intense US pressure to convince proMoscow rebels in Ukraine to give up eastern towns they are occupying, after Washington said the situation in the former Soviet republic was in a “pivotal period”.

But with the separatists’ refusal to budge, throwing a deal to defuse the crisis into doubt and US sanctions looming large, Russia is hitting back, warning that its military is massed on the border, ready to act.

Failure to implement the agreement hammered out in Geneva on Thursday by the US, Russia, Ukraine and the EU threatens to deepen the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov overnight that “full and immediate compliance” with the deal was needed. It calls for the disarmament of “illegal armed groups” and the end to the occupation of seized buildings.

US President Barack Obama has said he wants to see progress within days.—