海角大神

Western leaders are threatening to bring new sanctions against Russia after scores died in a weekend of violence in eastern Ukraine. The new fighting has turned what had seemed to be an easing conflict just a few weeks ago back into a diplomatic crisis for Europe and the US.

Russia-backed rebel forces launched multiple attacks over the weekend, BBC News reports. Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed and at least two dozen more injured in the past 24 hours amid shelling in the east, the Ukrainian military says. And 30 civilians died Saturday in the city of Mariupol amid heavy shelling. Independent monitors said that the shelling came from rebel-controlled territory, some 20 miles to the east, The Associated Press reports.

A dashboard camera in Mariupol captured one of the salvos as it struck the city. Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko "initially announced that his forces had begun an offensive on the government-controlled city of Mariupol. But after the extent of civilian casualties became known, he backtracked and blamed Ukrainian forces for Saturday's carnage," AP notes.

The surge in violence brought swift condemnation from Western leaders, who accused Russia of supplying troops and weapons to the rebels. Reuters reports that "after months in which European politicians had been debating whether it was time to start rolling back sanctions, the talk now is of how to tighten them."

President Obama also promised to "ratchet up" sanctions against Russia, who he blamed squarely for the outbreak in violence, Voice of America reports.

"We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the [Ukrainian] cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists, with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops, are conducting," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed Kiev for the rebels' attacks, arguing they were made out of self-defense, AP reports. "To expect that they (the rebels) would simply reconcile themselves to being bombed would be naive," he said. "They started to act ... with the goal of destroying Ukrainian army positions being used to shell populated areas."

AP notes that the Russian ruble, already hard hit by Western sanctions and falling oil prices, began to slide again Monday morning on news of the violence.

The outbreak of violence in Ukraine has been particularly jarring because it appears to be at odds with the position that Moscow has been promoting, of the urgent need for more talks. 海角大神 reported last week that Moscow's diplomatic efforts have contrasted sharply with the demands of rebels, who declared peace talks dead last week. "Even Russian experts are expressing bafflement at the disconnect between Moscow's diplomacy and the declarations of rebel leaders in Ukraine."

Bloomberg writes that this may be because of a changing of the guard in the Kremlin, as President Putin seems to be "snubbing" his oligarch allies in favor of a far more hardline foreign policy. "Putin is increasingly suspicious of men who owe their wealth to their ties to him and who are being hurt the most by U.S. and European sanctions, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal," Bloomberg reports.