![Ukraine lurches back toward war as Merkel urges rapid talks Ukraine lurches back toward war as Merkel urges rapid talks](https://www.cer.eu/sites/default/files/styles/spotlight/public/images/spotlight/in_the_press/2015/ukraine_protests_sl-1421334633.jpg?itok=we--FtFy)
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.”