Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (second right) meets servicemen during a visit to Donetsk region in June

The new US special representative for Ukraine says Washington is actively reviewing whether to send weapons to help those fighting against Russian-backed rebels.

Kurt Volker told the BBC that arming Ukrainian government forces could change Moscow's approach.

He said he did not think the move would be provocative.

Russia warned that anything that heightened tension could jeopardise a solution to the conflict.

Mr Volker, a former US permanent representative to Nato, was given the role in Kiev earlier this month.

"Defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself, and to take out tanks for example, would actually help" stop Russia threatening Ukraine, he said in a BBC interview.

"I'm not again predicting where we go on this. That's a matter for further discussion and decision. But I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards," he added.

He said success in establishing peace in eastern Ukraine would require what he called a new strategic dialogue with Russia. On a visit to the front line on Sunday Mr Volker had described the situation as a "hot war" that had to be addressed as quickly as possible.

Responding to Mr Volker's latest remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC: "We have said more than once that any actions that provoke tension on the line of separation, that provoke a situation which is already complex, will only take us further away from the moment when this internal Ukrainian issue is resolved."

The UN says more than 10,000 people have died since the eastern Ukraine conflict erupted in April 2014, soon after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The fighting has displaced more than 1.6 million people.

A ceasefire was agreed in Minsk in February 2015, but its terms are far from being fulfilled. The leaders of France and Germany discussed the conflict over the phone with the presidents of Ukraine and Russia late on Monday.

There has been a sharp rise in violence in which eight Ukrainian soldiers were killed over 24 hours.

The US Department of State called it "the deadliest one-day period in 2017" in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

In a video statement, the department blamed the "Russian-led" rebels for the flare-up.</s>The new U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Kurt Volker, says Washington is considering sending Kyiv weapons to help government forces defend themselves against Russia-backed separatists.

Providing lethal defensive weapons would allow Kyiv to "defend itself if Russia were to take further steps against Ukrainian territory," Volker told Current Time TV in an interview on July 25.

President Donald Trump's administration "is now reviewing where the Obama administration left it, considering whether we should provide defensive arms to Ukraine or not," he said. "So that's the state of play."

Volker said he did not think arming Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons would "provoke Russia to do more than they are already doing, and it also isn't going to change any kind of balance that way."

"I hear these arguments that it's somehow provocative to Russia or that it's going to embolden Ukraine to attack. These are just flat out wrong," Volker told Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with Voice of America.

"First off, Russia is already in Ukraine, they are already heavily armed," he said. "There are more Russian tanks in there than [tanks] in Western Europe combined. It is a large, large military presence."</s>WASHINGTON - The United States may arm Ukrainian government forces fighting against Russian-backed rebels, the new US special representative for Ukraine told the BBC.

Kurt Volker said Washington is actively reviewing whether to send weapons to help Ukraine, a move he says could change Moscow's approach.

"Defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself, and to take out tanks for example, would actually to help" to stop Russia threatening Ukraine, Mr Volker said in a BBC interview.

He did not think the move would be provocative, saying: "I'm not again predicting where we go on this, that's a matter for further discussion and decision, but I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards."

The US State Department last week urged both sides to uphold the ceasefire, agreed in February 2015, in eastern Ukraine.

A former US permanent representative to Nato, Mr Volker was appointed as US special representative earlier this month.

According to the United Nations, more than 10,000 people have died and 1.6 million people displaced since April 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives is expected to vote overwhelmingly on Tuesday (July 25) for a Bill that would slap new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea.

If the Republican-led Senate passes the measure, US President Donald Trump will need to decide whether to sign the Bill or veto it. Rejecting it would carry a risk that his veto could be overridden by lawmakers if they can muster enough support.

The Trump administration has objected to a provision in the sanctions Bill that the president obtain congressional approval before easing any sanctions on Moscow.

"He's going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like," White House spokesman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday when asked whether Mr Trump would support it.

Mr Trump's relationship with Russia has been a focus of the first six months of his presidency as investigations continue into whether his associates colluded with Russian hackers to influence the election on his behalf.

Russia denies interfering in the US election and Mr Trump denies his campaign colluded with Moscow.

As the Republican-controlled House takes up the sanctions Bill, Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will visit Capitol Hill for a second straight day to be interviewed about his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and the presidential transition.

An earlier version of the Bill, including sanctions on Russia and Iran, passed the Senate 98-2 on June 15. A North Korea sanctions Bill passed the House by 419-1 in May and House lawmakers were becoming increasingly impatient with the Senate's failure to take up that legislation.

House members saw the Iran and Russia sanctions Bill as a chance finally to get the North Korea measure through the Senate.</s>The new US special representative for Ukraine says Washington is actively reviewing whether to send weapons to help those fighting against Russian-backed rebels.

Kurt Volker told the BBC that arming Ukrainian government forces could change Moscow's approach.

He said he did not think the move would be provocative.

Last week, the US State Department urged both sides to observe the fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

"Defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself, and to take out tanks for example, would actually to help" to stop Russia threatening Ukraine, Mr Volker said in a BBC interview.
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"I'm not again predicting where we go on this, that's a matter for further discussion and decision, but I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards," he added.

He said success in establishing peace in eastern Ukraine would require what he called a new strategic dialogue with Russia.

Mr Volker is a former US permanent representative to Nato and was appointed to his new role earlier this month.

The UN says more than 10,000 people have died since the eastern Ukraine conflict erupted in April 2014, soon after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. The fighting has displaced more than 1.6 million people.

A ceasefire was agreed in Minsk in February 2015, but its terms are far from being fulfilled.

Last week the Ukrainian military said five of its soldiers died in heavy shelling just north of rebel-held Donetsk.

Three Ukrainian troops also died earlier when a mine blew up, the military said.

The US Department of State called it "the deadliest one-day period in 2017" in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

In a video statement, the department blamed the "Russian-led" rebels for the flare-up.</s>Washington is considering sending "defensive" weapons to Ukraine, US special representative Kurt Volker says. He insists the potential move, long desired by Kiev, would not be "provocative." It comes as Moscow warns against fueling Ukraine's civil war.In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Volker, who was appointed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations in July, said that US authorities are pondering whether to ship armaments to Kiev.Noting that the discussion is currently focused on "defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself and to take out tanks, for example," Volker argued that such supplies "would actually to help [sic]" Kiev fend off alleged encroachments from Moscow.Volker fell short of providing any indication of when such a deal could be reached between Washington and Kiev, saying that he is "not again predicting where we go on this."However, he claimed that despite the unresolved conflict in eastern Ukraine, Washington does not view such a move as "provocative.""I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards," Volker told the BBC, adding that the US believes a "new strategic dialogue" with Moscow is needed to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, which has recently seen a spike in violence.Volker, who is a former adviser to US Senator John McCain and a former US ambassador to NATO, previously described the conflict between Donbass rebels and Kiev as a "hot war" and an "immediate crisis," as opposed to a frozen conflict. Volker visited Ukraine on Sunday, offering comments on camera and posing with Ukrainian servicemen before driving off in an armored vehicle.Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said in June that Kiev had almost worked out an agreement with Washington on defensive weapons. Hailing the progress reached on "defensive agreements" with the US, the Ukrainian leader claimed the parties "have an almost consensual text of the agreement [about the arms supplies]." Poroshenko voiced hope that the deals would be finalized within the present fiscal year.Poroshenko's assurances came on the heels of his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and other senior US officials during a visit to Washington in June. Poroshenko said he discussed the issue with Tillerson, adding that the agreement could be signed once Mattis arrives in Ukraine.While no official date for the visit has been announced, the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Valery Chaly, said in June that Kiev had invited Mattis, Tillerson, and US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to visit Ukraine before the end of the year. Tillerson visited Ukraine earlier this month.Last week, fighting in Donbass that had seemingly subsided in recent months again intensified, claiming at least 12 lives. The surge in violence sparked concern among observers and mediators of the Minsk agreements and was addressed during a telephone conversation between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany - known as the 'Normandy Four' - on Monday.While negotiations surrounding weapons supplies to Ukraine currently appear to concern only "defensive" weapons, Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly said they are eager to receive "lethal" arms from the US."We have repeatedly said that any actions provoking tensions on the disengagement line [in eastern Ukraine] and in general further aggravating the already difficult situation [in the region], will only distance us from the moment of settling this domestic Ukrainian issue," Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.Last week, Ukraine's defense minister, Stepan Poltorak, reiterated that Kiev is waiting for Washington to greenlight the transfer of lethal arms to Ukraine, as proposed by the US Senate Armed Services Committee in June.Following the proposal, an unnamed US State Department official told RIA Novosti that the US has not yet made up its mind on whether to supply lethal arms to Kiev.</s>MOSCOW – Any U.S. decision to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons would set back peace efforts and escalate tensions, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

The Kremlin was referring to an interview given by U.S. special envoy on Ukraine, Kurt Volker, to Britain’s broadcaster BBC, in which he said that Washington was actively reviewing whether to send weapons to help those fighting against Russian-backed rebels.

The Kremlin said a possible delivery of U.S. weapons to Ukraine could destabilise the situation along the frontline in the east of the country.

“We have already said more than once that any action which escalates tension … and further aggravates the already complicated situation will only move us further and further away from the moment of settling this internal issue of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.</s>When somebody else is doing it, it’s an aggression. But when it is the US that is moving arms around, it’s perfectly fine. Grown ups tend to insult and degrade themselves, just to get what they don’t have the right to.

Washington is considering sending “defensive” weapons to Ukraine, US special representative Kurt Volker says. He insists the potential move, long desired by Kiev, would not be “provocative.” It comes as Moscow warns against fueling Ukraine’s civil war.

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Volker, who was appointed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations in July, said that US authorities are pondering whether to ship armaments to Kiev.

Noting that the discussion is currently focused on “defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself and to take out tanks, for example,” Volker argued that such supplies “would actually to help [sic]” Kiev fend off alleged encroachments from Moscow.

Volker fell short of providing any indication of when such a deal could be reached between Washington and Kiev, saying that he is “not again predicting where we go on this.”

However, he claimed that despite the unresolved conflict in eastern Ukraine, Washington does not view such a move as “provocative.”

“I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards,” Volker told the BBC, adding that the US believes a “new strategic dialogue” with Moscow is needed to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, which has recently seen a spike in violence.

Volker, who is a former adviser to US Senator John McCain and a former US ambassador to NATO, previously described the conflict between Donbass rebels and Kiev as a “hot war” and an “immediate crisis,” as opposed to a frozen conflict. Volker visited Ukraine on Sunday, offering comments on camera and posing with Ukrainian servicemen before driving off in an armored vehicle.</s>The conflict in Ukraine, which began in 2014 following the public ouster of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, flared when Russia moved to annex Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Moscow has since been accused of backing Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country against government forces, though it has denied direct involvement. Despite reaching a ceasefire in February 2015, the terms of the agreement have been far from fulfilled. Indeed, the U.S. State Department condemned last week what it called “the deadliest one-day period in 2017” after eight Ukrainian soldiers were killed in 24 hours.

“Defensive weapons, ones that would allow Ukraine to defend itself, and to take out tanks for example, would actually help,” Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations, told the BBC in an interview Tuesday, noting such a move could change Moscow’s approach in the region, where the United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since April 2014. “I’m not predicting where we go on this … but I think that argument that it would be provocative to Russia or emboldening of Ukraine is just getting it backwards.”

Russia had long viewed Crimea as part of its territory (the region was gifted in 1954 to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev), and Ukraine as part of its sphere of influence. The pro-Western government in Kiev has angered Moscow, and at least some of its actions in the country can be attributed to Russia’s regional status.

Though the U.S. has maintained its opposition to Moscow’s cross-border activity, it has stopped short of providing lethal arms to Ukraine. Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during the Clinton administration, told me this policy was due in large part to President Obama’s opposition to providing lethal aid in fear of escalating the violence. “People were not two years ago going to say ‘We like the idea,’ because they knew it was a presidential decision and they knew the president was cautious,” Pifer said. “In this case, I don’t think President Trump has taken a position, so they may feel they have a little bit more leeway.”

Trump has offered little specificity on his stance over the Ukrainian conflict, but he hasn’t formally ruled out providing arms either. Trump called on Moscow to “cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere” during his visit to Poland earlier this month, and told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last month during his visit to Washington that the crisis is one “we’ve all been very much involved in.” But where Trump hasn’t been specific, others in the government have. In an address this month to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force General Paul J. Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said lethal defensive aid to Ukraine is “more than just a military recommendation,” adding: “This will be a policy choice on whether or not we’re going to give the Ukrainian government the tools they need to defend themselves against what we believe to be a Russian-supported insurgency movement in the Donbass,” referring to the region in eastern Ukraine.

More than just giving Ukrainian forces a means to defend themselves, Pifer said the arms could serve as a way to compel Moscow toward a political resolution to the conflict. “Nobody on the Ukrainian side suggests to us that they were going to use the force to drive the Russians and the separatists out of Donbass—they know they cannot beat the Red Army,” he said, referring to the Russian military. “The advantage ... is giving them better ability to raise the cost to the Russians and the separatists of further aggression.”

The Russians may not see it that way. Though Volker insisted that arming Ukrainian forces would not be seen as a provocation, Moscow is unlikely to look on the move as kindly either. “There is a risk the Russians choose to escalate, and I think it’s a risk we have to acknowledge,” Pifer said, noting that as long as the Russians are disinclined to resolve the conflict, it could remain at a standstill.

“It hasn’t yet reached the point where they’re looking for a way out,” he added. “We’ve got to somehow figure out a way to change the calculation in the Kremlin.”</s>KIEV (Reuters) - Russian aggression is to blame for violence in eastern Ukraine, where people are dying in what should be seen as a "hot war" rather than a "frozen conflict", the U.S. special envoy to the Ukraine peace talks said on a visit to Ukraine on Sunday.

Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, was appointed to his current role on July 7 to help resolve the conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.

Washington cites the conflict as a key obstacle to better relations with Russia.

On a visit to the Ukrainian-held town of Kramatorsk, 690 km (430 miles) southeast of Kiev, Volker said he would prepare a set of recommendations on how Washington can better engage with the peace process.

"This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war, and it's an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible," he said.

Relations between Ukraine and Russia went into freefall after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian insurgency in the eastern Donbass region.

Ukraine accuses Russian of sending in its own soldiers and military equipment, which Moscow denies.

Volker replied in the affirmative when asked whether he saw the conflict as being as the result of Russian aggression rather than internal Ukrainian factors.

"We've seen what's happened, we understand the way this conflict has begun, we understand the way it is being managed today, and that's why it's important that the United States become more engaged."

Fighting in the Donbass region has killed 12 people in a particularly bloody week, prompting Germany and France to urge immediate progress in implementing ceasefire agreements signed in Belarus in 2015 that are regularly flouted.

Leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will speak by phone on Monday to discuss the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in early July that Russia must make the first move to bring peace to Ukraine, which President Petro Poroshenko called a powerful signal of Washington's backing.

A career diplomat, Volker is a former aide to Republican Senator John McCain, a Russia hawk who wants the United States to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, a move the previous administration under Barack Obama shied away from.</s>The new US special envoy on Ukraine said Sunday that Russia is responsible for the “hot war” in the country’s east, after fresh clashes between government forces and Russian-backed rebels.

Kurt Volker, who was appointed this month as the State Department’s special representative for negotiations to end more than three years of fighting, was visiting on the eve of telephone talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France on how to stem a conflict that has claimed 10,000 lives.

“This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war and it is an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible,” Volker said while visiting the government-controlled city of Kramatorsk in the war-torn Donetsk region.

“I wanted to come here… and to see firsthand the situation along the line of conflict,” Volker, wearing a bulletproof vest, told journalists.

“It is truly a high degree of suffering, there was a high human cost to this conflict and that is another reason why it is so urgent that we address it.”

His visit follows a fresh flare up in fighting in eastern Ukraine which has claimed the lives of 11 Ukrainian troops over the past few days, the most serious surge in bloodshed in recent months.

Ukraine and the West say Moscow has funnelled troops and arms across the border to fan the flames of the war in Europe’s backyard.

Moscow has denied the allegations, despite overwhelming evidence that it has been involved in the fighting and its explicit political support for the rebels.

Volker agreed when asked whether he considered the conflict to be the result of Russian aggression rather than a Ukrainian civil war.

“We understand the way this conflict has begun, we understand the way it is being managed today and that is why it is important the US become more engaged,” the former US ambassador to NATO said.

On Monday, Volker will have talks with Ukrainian authorities in Kiev and next week will visit France, Belgium, Austria and Britain before going back to Washington to make “some recommendations about exactly how the US can engage better”.

The US and EU have imposed sanctions on Russia, but efforts to secure a peace Ukraine deal have ground to a halt as the fighting has dragged on.

The conflict, along with Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has pushed ties between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Kurt Volker, U.S. special representative for Ukraine, says in a BBC News interview that the White House is considering arming Ukrainian government forces fighting Pro-Russian militants with defensive weapons.