Ukraine lurches back toward war as Merkel urges rapid talks

Ukraine said cease-fire violations in its easternmost regions surged to a record as Germany’s leader called for emergency peace talks and Russia stepped up economic pressure on its cash-strapped neighbor.

“Fighting has already been stepped up significantly,” Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform in London, said by phone. “What I do think is happening pretty clearly is that the Russians are resupplying the forces in eastern Ukraine and probably rotating them.”