After Crimea ‘Incursions,’ Russia and Ukraine Step Back From All-Out War

After Crimea ‘Incursions,’ Russia and Ukraine Step Back From All-Out War
Spray-painted signs pointing to the nearest bomb shelter, like this one in Mariupol, are common sights in cities across Ukraine. Nolan Peterson/The Daily Signal
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KYIV, Ukraine—In a familiar cycle of brinksmanship, Russia and Ukraine once again edged toward the brink of open war last week, only for the bellicose rhetoric and military posturing to dissipate rapidly, leaving the conflict in eastern Ukraine no closer to a long-term solution.

Russia’s successor spy agency to the KGB, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, claimed to have thwarted terrorist attacks Aug. 10 in Crimea, which Russian authorities pinned on the Ukrainian government.

In one incident, an FSB agent died during a raid on a terrorist cell. A Russian soldier also died in a separate, cross-border firefight, the spy agency said.

Following the alleged incursions by Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a chilling message to Kyiv, spurring fears of all-out war when he said Russia “would not let such things pass.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied Russia’s accusations, calling them “insane.”

“These fantasies pursue only one goal,” Poroshenko said in a statement emailed to journalists in Ukraine. “A pretext for more military threats against Ukraine.”

[The] U.S. government has seen nothing so far that corroborates Russian allegations of a 'Crimea incursion.'
@GeoffPyatt
Nolan Peterson
Nolan Peterson
Author
Nolan Peterson is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an independent defense consultant based in Kyiv and Washington. A former U.S. Air Force Special Operations pilot and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Peterson has more than nine years of experience reporting from Ukraine's front lines.
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