Putin has blown any chances of a true 'ceasefire' out of the water.

Patrick Donahue and Helene Fouquet, reporting on yesterday's (24 Aug., 2015) Berlin meeting between Merkel, Hollande, and Poroshenko, write that,

"Leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine said they’ll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin only when they find a way to resolve a stalled cease-fire in eastern Ukraine ....

...

“When we have the impression that it’s necessary, we will exchange views by telephone or in person” with Putin, Merkel told reporters before the meeting.

“I also don’t rule out that we’ll have a four-way meeting again.” (Bloomberg Business : August 24, 2015) (my emphasis)

 

And whilst Merkel and Hollande are still trying to breathe life into the dead fish of Putin's Minsk2 Protocols,

"...Ukraine's military said Monday that the rebels violated a cease-fire 82 times overnight in the eastern part of the country, in some cases with large-caliber weapons that should have been withdrawn in line with a truce signed in February." (Efrem Lukatsky (AP) U.S. News : Aug. 24, 2015) (my emphasis)

As Roland Oliphant also reports,

"Fears of a return to all out warfare continue to mount in Ukraine after Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, accused Russia of sending fresh troops and equipment into the eastern part of the country....

.....

“Moscow’s ‘army surplus’ has supplied fighters with 500 tanks, up to 400 artillery systems, and 950 fighting vehicles,” he said.

“Just this week three big convoys crossed our border towards Lugask, Donetsk, and Debaltseve,” he continued. (The Telegraph : 24 Aug 2015) (my emphasis)

Added to which,

"Leading separatist figure Denis Pushilin warned that open warfare “can be resumed at any moment." (Garrett Khoury : Business Insider : Aug. 24, 2015) (my emphasis)

At the same time Lukatsky reports that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, publicly exposed the fact that  'Novorossiya' is still central to Putin's thinking by invoking nothing more nor less than the very DNA code itself. 

As Sergey Lavrov (right) stated,

"It is difficult to escape the thought that their (Ukraine's) goal was to break the genetic code that guarantees the unity of our peoples," Sergey Lavrov said. "I don't think he (Poroshenko) will succeed." (ibid Efrem Lukatsky) (my emphasis)

Perhaps the 'continuous mantra' of Merkel and Hollande to try and bring to life the dead fish of the Minsk2 ceasefire has something to do with the fact that,

"..Pentagon officials worry about whether or not the United States is really prepared for a war with Russia, should one break out.

These concerns make the battlefield knowledge of Ukrainian forces all the more valuable. With the major information-gathering benefit in mind, both the United States and Britain are planning on expanding their training missions in the country.

....

....the Army will move from solely training National Guardsmen to adding in regular soldiers from the Defense Ministry.

Far from being solely to the benefit of Ukraine, Operation Fearless Guardian is proving to be of critical importance to the United States and NATO."(Garrett Khoury : Business Insider : Aug. 24, 2015) (my emphasis)

 Added to which,

"The US is to deploy F-22 fighter jets to Europe as part of efforts to support eastern European members of the Nato alliance unnerved by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

“Russia’s military activity in the Ukraine continues to be of great concern to us and to our European allies,” the air force secretary, Deborah James, told a news conference at the Pentagon. 

“For the air force an F-22 deployment is certainly on the strong side of the coin.” (The Guardian: Reuters (Washington) : Tuesday 25 August 2015) (my emphasis)

These responses of NATO, unforseen by Putin as he invaded and annexed Ukrainian Crimea, and who then thought that he could simply walk all over Ukraine, must be giving his 'siloviki' generals pause for thought. 

The currently battle-hardened Ukrainian army is proving more than a match for his rebel-proxies and Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

Given these 'facts on the ground', why is Merkel and Hollande placing all their hopes on a dead 'ceasefire' if not to force Poroshenko to give the rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine a special status?

Recall that as long ago as June of this year,

“The Europeans are demanding that we (Ukraine) propose a strategy for the special status of Donbas. 

And they want this status not to be limited to three years (as in the law about the status of certain territories) but to be made permanent,” [Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (left), first deputy head of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs,] said.

According to Klympush-Tsintsadze,  somehow the complex approach to carrying out the Minsk-2 Agreements is being negated suddenly.

“Despite the fact that the first steps have not even been carried out — the ceasefire is not respected, the heavy weaponry has not been withdrawn, our hostages have not been returned — but the EU is telling Kyiv to carry out the fifth or seventh step,” she said. " (Serhiy Sydorenko, European Pravda, June 23, 2015)

This is also what Merkel and Hollande are telling Poroshenko to do.

Under the 'diplomatic' guise of wanting to breathe life into a dead 'ceasefire', Merkel and Hollande are practically forcing Poroshenko to 'let go of the eastern Ukraine territories that are in the hands of Putin's soldiers and his rebel-proxies.

One could almost say that this has been their common 'hidden' goal running through both Minsk1 and Minsk2.

Like the dead fish of the Minsk2 'ceasefire', current events have now brought this goal of theirs to light.

Where will they go from here?

(to be continued)