International reactions to the war in Donbas

Main article: War in Donbass

Many states and international organisations have reacted to the ongoing war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, which began in April 2014. In August 2014, after the intervention of Russia troops in Donbass, many states condemned the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

General reactions

• Belarus - president Alexander Lukashenko from the beginning of the conflict has been encouraging peace talks and in September he hosted the Minsk agreement. On 4 September though he signed a decree re-establishing border control zone between Belarussia and Russian Federation to "prevent illegal migration and transport of drugs and other illegal goods".
• Czech Republic – Czech president Miloš Zeman said on 5 September that the situation in Donbass could "develop into a Russian invasion, but at this stage, it is a civil war between two groups of Ukrainian inhabitants". His words were at odds with statements by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Defence Minister Martin Stropnický, who both said there were at least 5,000 Russian troops in Ukraine. Prime Minister Sobotka also said: "I suppose that Europe should not harm itself by these sanctions. I consider the escalation of sanctions a very risky business." The position of President Zeman was shared by former Czech president Václav Klaus, who said on 9 September that Ukraine was an artificially created state, and that Ukraine was in a state of civil war.
• European Union – The EU began imposing sanctions on Russia in March 2014, following the annexation of Crimea, with the lists of sanctioned individuals and entities having been expanded multiple times concurrently with escalations in Donbass. Following the alleged incursions of the Russian Armed Forces into the territory of Ukraine in late August, EU leaders condemned the action at a summit in Brussels and announced a new round of sanctions.
• France – France was criticised at the time of the annexation of Crimea for continuing to prepare two Mistral assault ships for delivery to Russia. The first one was meant to be delivered in October 2014. France eventually decided to place the delivery on hold in September, following increasing escalation in the Donbass, and reported Russian intervention there.
• NATO – NATO published a statement on the war in Donbass and the Crimean Crisis in August 2014. It attempted to debunk the Russian government's accusations against the Ukrainian government, and also other statements made by Russia to justify its presence in Ukraine. According to the statement, Russia attempted to "divert attention away from its actions" and "levelled a series of accusations against NATO which are based on misrepresentations of the facts". It also said that Russia "made baseless attacks on the legitimacy of the Ukrainian authorities and has used force to seize part of Ukraine's territory". In response to the unauthorised entry of the Russian humanitarian convoy on 22 August, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that this incident could "only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel. The disregard of international humanitarian principles raises further questions about whether the true purpose of the aid convoy is to support civilians or to resupply armed separatists". Late in August, NATO generals met and revised their assessment of the military situation in Donbass. They said that, from the Ukrainian government's point of view, the war is already lost. It was anticipated that the late-August offensive in southern Donetsk Oblast could be used to create a Russian land corridor to Crimea, consolidating the illegal annexation of the peninsula.
• Russia – The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Ukrainian authorities of "blaming" the Russian government for all its troubles and stated "Ukrainian people want to get a clear answer from Kiev to all their questions. It's time to listen to these legal claims". It also stated it was "carefully observing" events in the east and south of Ukraine, and again called for "real constitutional reform" that would turn Ukraine into a federation. In an 7 April opinion piece in The Guardian, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov wrote that it was Europe and the United States, and not Russia, that was guilty of destabilising Ukraine and that "Russia is doing all it can to promote early stabilisation in Ukraine". The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a stern condemnation of the "criminal order" by Kiev for armed aggression against Donetsk: "The Kiev authorities, who self-proclaimed themselves as a result of a coup, have embarked on the violent military suppression of the protests," demanding that "the Maidan henchmen, who overthrew the legitimate president, to immediately stop the war against their own people, to fulfill all the obligations under the Agreement of 21 February." Russian president Vladimir Putin compared the siege of the DPR and LPR-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk to the Siege of Leningrad during the Second World War: "Sadly, it reminds me of World War II, when German fascist forces surrounded our cities, like Leningrad, and shelled population centres and their residents".
• United Kingdom – In a statement at a meeting of the UN Security Council on 6 August, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sir Mark Lyall Grant said: "The truth of the matter is that this is not an insurrection born in the Donbas; it is an insurgency manufactured in Moscow. It is led by Russians, using Russian-supplied weapons, in a deliberate effort to destabilise Ukraine and to exert control over Kiev". Sir Mark made another statement to the Security Council on 28 August, and listed "100 main battle tanks, 80 armoured personnel carriers, 100 man-portable air-defence systems, 100 anti-tank weapons and over 100 artillery pieces" that were supplied to the Donbass insurgents directly by Russia.
• United Nations – A press release issued on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of "constructive and results-oriented dialogue between all concerned", and of adherence to the terms of the Geneva Statement on Ukraine. The statement also made clear that the situation "remains extremely volatile".
• United States – US Secretary of State John Kerry said on 7 April 2014 that the events "did not appear to be spontaneous" and called on Russia to "publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs" in a phone call to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council noted that the separatists appeared to be supported by Russia. "We saw similar so-called protest activities in Crimea before Russia's purported annexation," she said in a statement, adding: "We call on President (Vladimir) Putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine, and we caution against further military intervention." American ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt characterised the pro-Russian insurgents as "terrorists". The US government is sending military advisors to Ukraine to aid the Ukrainian government in its fight against the insurgents. In April, the US Defence Department shipped a 7 million US dollar package of non-lethal military equipment to the Ukrainian forces. Plans for another 8 million dollar million aid package were announced on 1 August. The package was meant to include armoured personnel carriers, goods and patrol vehicles, binoculars, night vision goggles and small patrol boats. On the same day, the Defence Department also proposed a 19 million dollar aid package to help train the National Guard of Ukraine. This proposal required congressional approval, and would come into effect in 2015. It had been announced in July that a group of Defence Department specialists in strategy and policy would visit Kiev to evaluate the military needs of the Ukrainian government. On 8 September, The New York Times reported that only a portion of the initial non-lethal aid package had actually arrived in Ukraine. While this report cited concerns about provoking escalation in the region as the reason for the delay, a 13 September report by The Globe and Mail cited various sources that indicated that both the American package and a $200 million Canadian military aid package were delayed by concerns about diversion of saleable equipment due to corruption among Ukrainian officials.

Nongovernmental reactions

In contrast to the unanimous condemnation by western governmental spokespeople of the Russian role in the conflict, European politicians representing euroscepticism, mainly on the right of the political spectrum, criticized the role of western governments in allegedly precipitating the crisis, in some cases supporting Putin's position. Such opinions were expressed in Britain by Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, in France by Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front, in Austria by Heinz-Christian Strache, the chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria, in the Netherlands by Geert Wilders, founding leader of the Party for Freedom, and in Italy. The loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over the Ukraine in mid July appears to have moderated the expression of these views. Much of the blame for the conflict is assigned to western powers also by an academic analysis, and by a significant body of popular opinion in Europe on the political left. John J. Mearsheimer, an American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, presented an analysis in Foreign Affairs that assigns most of the responsibility for the crisis to the United States and its European allies. He invites us to "imagine the American outrage if China built an impressive military alliance and tried to include Canada and Mexico", and recommends that "the United States and its allies should abandon their plan to westernize Ukraine and instead aim to make it a neutral buffer". Widespread European skepticism about the roles of western governments in contributing to the crisis is reported to be most notable in Germany. An opinion survey by the firm "infratest dimap" found that 49 percent prefer a "middle position" for Germany between the West and Russia. This was reflected in the policy of moderation and mediation by Angela Merkel before August, 2014.

Reactions to the August intervention by Russia

• Amnesty International – This organisation considers the war to be "an international armed conflict" and presented independent satellite photos analysis proving involvement of regular Russian army in the conflict. It accuses Ukrainian militia and separatist forces for being responsible for war crimes and has called on all parties, including Russia, to stop violations of the laws of war.
• NATO – The Russian government's decision to send a truck convoy into Luhansk on 22 August without Ukrainian consent was condemned by NATO and several NATO member states, including the United States. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it "a blatant breach of Russia's international commitments" and "a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia".
• European Union – Leaders warned that Russia faced harsher economic sanctions than the EU had previously imposed if it failed to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

• Australia – Australian prime minister Tony Abbott condemned Russia's actions, labelling them "an invasion" and "utterly reprehensible."
• Estonia – Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves called the situation an "undeclared war," and stated Russia's actions violate UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris.
• Germany – At an EU summit in late August 2014, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Russian president Vladimir Putin was moving toward a military escalation that could threaten Latvia and Estonia. Her stance was reported to reflect conclusions drawn from extensive conversations with Putin over the preceding nine months, together with evidence of bad faith on the part of Putin. According to a tweet from the German Foreign Office, she also said that since the beginning this hasn't been a conflict within Ukraine, but a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.
• Latvia – Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics said the Russian invasion of Ukraine must be considered by the UN Security Council as an "act of aggression," and that "this is war."
• Lithuania – Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said Russia's actions meant it was at war with Ukraine and "practically" at war with Europe. She called on the European Union to assist Ukraine in defending itself, saying, "Today Ukraine is fighting a war on behalf of all Europe."
• Poland – Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski called the invasion "the greatest security crisis in Europe in decades." Poland also treats Russia's actions towards Ukraine as "fulfilling the attributes of 'aggression,' as defined in UN documents—Resolution 3314 of the United Nations General Assembly."("the most serious and dangerous form of the illegal use of force").
• Ukraine – Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Oleksandr Turchynov said "It's a hybrid war that Russia has begun against Ukraine, a war with the participation of the Russian security services and the army."
• United States - US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power commented on the invasion by noting that "At every step, Russia has become before this council to say everything but the truth. It has manipulated, obfuscated and outright lied. Russia has to stop lying and has to stop fuelling this conflict." The United States government said it supported stiffer sanctions as well.