Implode-o-Meter News - A Bloody Retreat From Debaltsevo as Ukrainian Forces Suddenly Withdraw

The political fallout was as uncertain as the military situation. Mr. Poroshenko sought to cast the retreat in a positive light, saying in a televised statement that he had ordered the troops out of Debaltseve, a strategic transportation hub where intense fighting raged in recent days despite a cease-fire agreement signed last week in Minsk, Belarus.
Yet, his decision to fight for several days before retreating, and his earlier refusal to hand over the town during the cease-fire talks even when a Ukrainian defeat seemed inevitable, could prove contentious in Ukraine as the scale of the potential slaughter comes into focus.

"It was clear they couldn't get a deal on Debaltseve," Samuel Charap, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said of the Minsk talks. "The question then becomes: What the hell was Poroshenko thinking?"

Note: at top was the original title of this article, before the censors got it. We only know about this brief increased candor because of the crack work of The Saker in this post.

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A Bloody Retreat From Debaltsevo as Ukrainian Forces Suddenly Withdraw