President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met to discuss the crisis Monday in Washington, while in Brussels, Belgium, the European Union agreed on new sanctions against pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and their supporters.
But the organization opted to delay implementing the sanctions for a week, to give more opportunity for a negotiated solution to take hold, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini told reporters.
The top priority, she said, "is to improve things on the ground," where escalating fighting is taking a toll on civilians.
In Washington, Obama and Merkel were expected to discuss proposals to send lethal aid to the Ukrainian military. Merkel says that's a bad idea.
"The progress that Ukraine needs cannot be achieved with more weapons," she said. "I have grave doubts about the validity of this point."
Merkel said she believes that if the West sends weapons to Ukraine, Russia could further step up its involvement in the conflict, possibly introducing its air force into the fight.
But U.S. Sen. John McCain, who supports arming Ukraine, said it's a "harsh reality" that Russia's military is supporting pro-Russian separatist rebels in Ukraine.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin "does not want a diplomatic solution, he wants to dominate Ukraine as well as Russia's other neighbors."
The crisis comes nearly a year after Ukrainian officials and the U.S. government accused Russia of flooding Crimea with troops ahead of its widely disputed annexation of the territory in March 2014.
Similar allegations of Russian military involvement have been made about the current conflict in eastern Ukraine, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk recently saying his forces are fighting not with local militants, but "with the Russian regular army."
Russian officials have denied the claims, saying the fighting is between what it calls a fascist government in Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists. Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the Russian government would "continue actively facilitating a peaceful settlement" to the conflict.
But some Western leaders continue to slam Putin. On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Putin was acting like a "mid-20th century tyrant."
Hammond told Sky News that Russia's behavior was "outrageous and outdated" and warned that Putin will "pay the price for what he is doing in Ukraine."
Source: CNN
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