<p>Nice days into a truce between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists, fighting is raging.</p>
<p>The situation in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine is "critical," <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-us-led-military-exercises-due-to-begin-in-western-ukraine-2014-9">according to local leaders</a>. Rebels have been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/13/vladimir-putin-wants-destroy-ukraine-says-arseny-yetseniuk">attempting</a> to take control of Donetsk airport.</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span>"We are still in a stage of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation," <span>Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said over the weekend.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Here is a look at the battlefield, according to Ukraine's military. The increased fighting in Donetsk comes after Ukraine troops <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/ukrainian-troops-retreat-from-russian-border-leaving-100-kilometers-defenseless-against-invasion.html">retreated</a> from more than 60 miles of border in the southeast, which gives Moscow a clear gateway for intervention. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The concern in Kiev is that Russian-backed troops will <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-map-of-the-ukraine-conflict-is-alarming-2014-9">try to take Mariupol</a>, which would lead to a dangerous new phase of the war if fighting engulfs the pro-government port city of 500,000. </span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="NSDC" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5416b8e66bb3f7f8383a412d-960/14-09-engjpg14092014122503.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>NSDC</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Compare that to the situation as of September 8.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>

Ukraine Cease-Fire Is Falling Apart In The Pro-Russian Rebel Stronghold

<br />
A report about India's labour market has come out with shocking results, claiming that by 2022 half-a-billion people in India would still be in the agriculture sector, contributing to only a 9th of the GDP, while the per-capita incomes will probably stay at around $1.50 per day, which is barely above the poverty line decided by the government of India. <br />
 <br />
The research note was published by Kotak Institutional Equities, and presents a revised forecast of India's labour market by 2022. <br />
 <br />
"We note that the 144 million new job opportunities that the industry and services sector have to create over the nine-year period from 2013-22 is woefully short of the around 250 million people who will become eligible to join the workforce over this time period," the report added. <br />
 <br />
The report analysed about 24 industry reports that were commissioned by the National Skills Development Council (NSDC) as well as similar reports from the end of the last decade. The comparison noted that job creation estimates have "lowered significantly". <br />
 <br />
While the earlier forecast expected to see 654 million working Indians overall by the fiscal year ending 2022, the new number is 575 million. <br />
 <br />
Similarly, the earlier estimate had said that 18% of Indian workforce would be employed in agriculture (about 114 million people), but the new report estimates this number to be at 38% (around 216 million people). <br />
 <br /> The report added that the implications of the new estimates and the poor job creation trajectory will be harmful for the <keyword id="6356076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="indian-economy">Indian economy</keyword>. <br />
 <br />
"Even with the rate of growth in per-capita income expected to be the highest in agriculture, overall incomes are still so low that the average person engaged in agriculture would barely move beyond the poverty line," the report said. <br />
 <br />
"...half-a-billion people are expected to remain in agriculture, and per-capita incomes will remain at around 1.50 per day, barely above the poverty line," the report added. <br />
 <br />
Another thing to have come out of the report is that the dependency ratio, which is calculated as the number of the non-working population upon the overall population, will not see a dramatic fall. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.marcellocappellazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DSC03598.jpg"><em>Image source</em></a><br />

Fewer jobs, dependency on agriculture and low per capita income; India’s labour market forecast is alarming

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Russian President Vladimir Putin met with top military officials to discuss the "</span><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-forces-deny-launching-offensive-east-154446228.html">deterioration</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> of the situation</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">" amid fresh fighting on fault lines in eastern Ukraine.</span></p>
<p>Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said the Ukrainian army had launched "all-out war" on rebel positions, the Russian news agency RIA said.</p>
<p>Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov denied this, saying the army remained in agreed positions.</p>
<p>"We refute these allegations ... we're strictly fulfilling the Minsk memorandum (on a cease-fire)," he told Reuters by telephone.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Russia is also charging Ukraine with deliberately shelling a school, although <a href="http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-262-russia-orders-investigation-into-donetsk-school-shelling/#4899">The Interpreter reports</a> that Moscow has not provided evidence and public information does not point to Ukraine military positions.</p>
<p>Representatives of the separatist regions earlier put out a joint statement calling for a redrafting of the Minsk deal, which established a cease-fire in exchange for Kiev granting "special status" to eastern territories.</p>
<p>Rebels say Ukraine has violated the deal by seeking to revoke a law that would have granted eastern regions autonomy. Kiev says this was a consequence of Sunday's separatist leadership elections, which it says go against the agreement.</p>
<p>At least 4,000 people have died during the conflict. </p>

Ukraine Is Heating Up Again ...

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="NSDC" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54117f3decad04927b25dd3f-960/11-09engjpg11092014120138.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>NSDC</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Ukraine's military <a href="https://twitter.com/NSDC_ua">published</a> a map that claims Russian-backed forces have secured crucial territory between the stronghold of Russian-backed separatists and a strategic Ukrainian city.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">There is currently a shaky cease-fire in place in eastern Ukraine, although residents say it still <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/europe/lured-back-by-a-cease-fire-but-not-feeling-at-home-yet.html?_r=0">feels like war</a>. </span></p>
<p>If the new map is accurate, the situation further raises the specter that Moscow-backed separatists <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-ukraine-steelmen-hold-their-ground-as-frontline-marches-towards-port-2014-9">want to capture</a> Mariupol.</p>
<p>"Ukraine's security council finally admits rebels have taken control of border area all the way down to Sea of Azov," journalist Alec Luhn <a href="https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/510022708692676608/photo/1">said of the map</a>.</p>
<p>Any assault on the port city would push the conflict into a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-war-ukraine-2014-8">a dangerous new phase</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> as the war would immediately grow wider.</span></p>
<p>The city, if overrun by separatists, would provide Russia a <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">strategic link between the rebel-held regional capital Donetsk to the north, the Azov Sea to the south, and the land route to the Crimean peninsula (which Russian special forces <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-crimea-takeover-in-3-photos-2014-3">annexed</a> in March).</span></p>
<p>Here's a look at the battlefield as of September 8, according to Reuters:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin's aim in Ukraine seems to involve creating a frozen conflict with a breakaway region in Ukraine's southeast corner so that Putin can <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putins-plan-for-ukraine-in-one-sentence-2014-9">impose his will</a> on the former Soviet republic.</p>
<p>Creating a land bridge with Crimea would be an even more aggressive option.</p>
<p>Putin has a lot of things going for him in the medium-to-long term, including Ukraine's imploding <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/09/02/4323160/imf-ukraine-may-need-another-bailout.html">economy</a>, the threat of a further Russian <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/world/europe/ukraine-crisis.html">invasion</a>, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/db-russia-ukraine-worst-case-scenarios-2014-7">hesitance</a> of Europe, the fact that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putins-ukraine-trump-card-winter-2014-8">winter is coming</a>, the state of Ukraine's battered army and militias.</p>

The New Map Of The Ukraine Conflict Is Alarming

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Russian troops fighting on the side of separatists in Ukraine are advancing in the southeast region of the country, Ukraine President Petro  Poroshenko said on Thursday.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"I have made a decision to cancel my working visit to the Republic of Turkey due to sharp aggravation of the situation in Donetsk region, particularly in Amvrosiivka and Starobeshevo, as Russian troops were brought into Ukraine," the President noted.</span></p>
<p>Russian troops are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-sargent-this-is-now-a-war-with-russia-2014-8">leading</a> a separatist counteroffensive in the east, bringing in tanks and using artillery from inside Ukrainian territory. A rebel commander <a href="http://en.itar-tass.com/world/747005">admitted</a> that at least 3,000-4,000 Russian troops are fighting inside Ukraine.</p>
<p><span><span>"Current servicemen are also fighting in our ranks, as they came to us to struggle for our freedom instead of their vacations," <span>Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko</span> told Russian media. "This is characteristic only for Russians."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Amvrosiivka and Starobeshevo are on the road to Crimea, which Russia <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-crimea-takeover-in-3-photos-2014-3">annexed</a> with special forces troops in March.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span>The fear is that Russia is attempting to create a land link between Russia and the strategic peninsula.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Ukrainian Prime Minister has called for an emergency UN security council meeting to deal with the issue of Russian troops in Ukraine, although Russia sits on the council and could veto any proposal that arose.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<h3>Here's a look by province, and what else Russia would have to annex to create the land bridge:</h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">And here's the fighting acording to Ukraine's military:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">More to come.</span></em></p>
<p> </p>

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: RUSSIAN TROOPS ARE ADVANCING IN UKRAINE

<p>Ukraine's Pravda has <a href="https://twitter.com/ukrpravda_news/status/563332926239428609">released</a> a shocking GIF depicting the advance of Russian-backed separatists across eastern Ukraine. </p>
<p>The GIF is compiled from five months of battlefield maps released by Ukraine's military. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>During the five-month span of the conflict the GIF depicts - the amount of time since the Minsk ceasefire deal - the Russian-backed separatists have made huge gains against the Ukrainian military and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-case-for-the-us-arming-ukraine-2015-2">captured an additional 193 square miles of territory</a>. These gains have been particularly startling in the south east of Ukraine towards the city of Mariupol, as well as around Donetsk. </p>
<p>The separatist push towards Mariupol <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-map-of-the-ukraine-conflict-is-alarming-2014-9">first started</a> in the beginning of Sept. 2014. Mariupol is a strategically vital Black Sea port city. By seizing the town, Russia would have a land corridor connecting the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in March, to the Russian mainland. Mariupol is still in Ukrainian hands, but separatist forces <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-grad-rockets-fired-by-rebels-hitting-cars-in-a-vital-ukrainian-city-2015-1">shelled</a> the city at the end of January. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The battlefield gains by the separatists throughout the east of the country can be attributed to the constant inflow of Russian weaponry. In Nov. 2014, Russia </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-is-heating-up-again--2014-11">moved a column</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> of tanks and artillery into eastern Ukraine drastically changing the battlefield calculus. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In addition to tanks and artillery, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-weapons-separatists-using-in-ukraine-2014-11">Russia has provided</a> the separatists with arms ranging from grenade launchers and mortars to anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft guns. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">As a result, Russian-backed rebels have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/7-reasons-why-russia-backed-separatists-are-dominating-in-ukraine-2015-2">huge military advantages</a> over Ukraine. Crucially, the rebels receive logistics and armaments from the Russian military while also being able to take refuge in Russia during a Ukrainian assault. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The safe haven that Russia provides allows the separatists to conduct cross-border strikes on Ukraine, while Kiev's army is incapable of attacking over the border into Russia without triggering an even larger war with Moscow. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's a look at the military situation in eastern Ukraine as of Jan. 26:</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And here's a look at the situation as it stood on the day Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Minsk peace deal:</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>

Alarming GIF shows Russian-backed rebels slowly taking over eastern Ukraine

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>After almost eight months of constant fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian military lost control of the Donetsk Airport, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-ukraine-russia-airport-20150122-story.html">according</a> to the Los Angeles Times. </p>
<p>"Taking into account the danger and in order to save lives, ... it was decided yesterday to move out of the terminal's territory and to the new lines," Vladyslav Seleznyov, the spokesman for the Ukrainian military, said in a briefing. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Fighting over the airport had taken on a new intensity within the past two weeks as Moscow-backed separatists made a concerted push to claim the area. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Video footage has also emerged from Russian state-owned media showing Russian Marines </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/christophe-harress-russian-showed-russian-troops-inside-ukraine-2015-1">taking part</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> in the assault.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></span></p>
<p>Mark Galeotti, a professor of Global Affairs at NYU with a focus on Russia, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-battle-for-a-crucial-ukraine-airport-2015-1">wrote</a> that Donetsk airport was of tactical and symbolic value in the current war. Symbolically, the airport represented an "advance intrusion into the heart of the rebellion" by the often tactically challenged Ukrainian military. </p>
<p>To have lost the airport will be "a serious blow to [the military's] morale and the credibility of the government." </p>
<p>Galeotti notes that the airport played an important role in the supplying of rebel troops. By holding onto the airport, the Ukrainian military had a chance of encircling Donetsk and choking the rebels off from ammunition. However, now that the airport is in rebel hands the Ukrainians will have a difficult time blockading the rebels. </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span>The loss of the Donetsk airport is a huge loss for the Ukrainian military since the airport was located on a strategically important hill outside of rebel-controlled Donetsk. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The airport has also served an equally important role in Ukraine's energy and economic security. According to the <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/27d1d4f6-a14f-11e4-bd03-00144feab7de.html#axzz3PUwCqQ8l">Financial Times</a>, railways that ship coal from Donbass coalfields to generators throughout Ukraine run alongside the airport. Since supplies from separatist-held regions were cut off, many Ukrainian cities have been plagued by blackouts in recent months.</span></p>
<p>Below is a before-and-after photo of the Donetsk airport's air traffic control tower. The tower has since collapsed.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Galeotti also </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-battle-for-a-crucial-ukraine-airport-2015-1">warns</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> that should the rebels manage to clear enough of the airport for it to be remotely usable, Russia could hypothetically mount "their own 'Berlin Airlift,' with white-painted aircraft they say are just bringing in relief supplies for the poor, hungry citizens of Donetsk." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Whether the airport will be at all usable in the near future, given its almost total state of destruction, is difficult to tell. (Check out more before and after photos at <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/multimedia/photogalleries/eastern-ukraines-donetsk-airport--before-and-after/5620.html">The Moscow Times</a>.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Regardless, Russia has scored a major victory by forcing Ukraine to withdraw from the airport.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>

Ukraine Just Lost A Crucial Airport To Russia-Backed Rebels, And The Photos Are Staggering

<p></p>
<p>Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post that one soldier was killed and four wounded when a volunteer battalion came under mortar fire before entering the town of Ilovaysk, 18 kilometers (11 miles) east of Donetsk.</p>
<p>Among the wounded is the commander of the Donbass battalion, Semyon Semenchenko, who said government soldiers destroyed three rebel checkpoints and four firing positions, and that fighting continues.</p>
<p>Government efforts to quell the pro-Russian separatist front have focused lately on gradually encircling Donetsk, the largest rebel-controlled city.</p>
<p>Volunteer battalions have proven essential in the government offensive against armed separatists in the mainly Russian-speaking east.</p>
<p>Fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has forced nearly 344,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations - a number that has only grown as the humanitarian situation in rebel-held cities deteriorates.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="NSDC" title_caption="According to the Ukrainian military, the army is closing in on rebel strongholds." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53f33120ecad046f52f3ec12-960/screen shot 2014-08-19 at 7.11.41 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>NSDC</span></p><p class="caption">According to the Ukrainian military, the army is closing in on rebel strongholds.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The situation appears to be particularly dire in the city of Luhansk, near the Russian border, which has been left without electricity, running water or phone connections for 17 days. Independent reports from the besieged city are scarce since the area is very dangerous for journalists.</p>
<p>The city hall said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that Luhansk and its city center came under fierce shelling overnight. An unspecified number of civilians were killed or wounded. Residents are standing in lines to buy bread as food supplies are running out, the city hall said. Authorities also raised the alarm about a potential outbreak of infectious diseases since household waste has not been taken out of town for more than two weeks amid sweltering heat.</p>
<p>Ukraine and the West have voiced concern about Russia's military activity at the Ukrainian border. Moscow has said it can do what it wants within its borders but invited a mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to observe two border crossings in a bid to counter claims that the Kremlin is supplying the rebels with weapons.</p>
<p>Paul Picard, head of that mission, told reporters in a Russian border town on Tuesday that observers had seen a marked increase of military activity around the border points over the past week, including Russian helicopter activity. But he said no helicopters were observed crossing the border.</p>
<p>Picard also said that the observers had seen "groups of young men and women wearing military-style dress" moving back and forth across the border. No weapons or military vehicles were observed.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Nataliya Vasilyeva in Kiev, Ukraine, and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.</p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p>Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</p>
</div>
<p></p>

Ukrainian Troops Are Closing In On Pro-Russian Separatist Strongholds

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Yuri Kochetkov</span></p><p class="caption">Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony unveiling a World War One monument at the Poklonnaya Gora War Memorial Park in Moscow August 1, 2014.</p></div><p></p></div></div>NATO is now <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nato-says-russia-could-be-poised-to-invade-ukraine-2014-06#ixzz39d7q6job">concerned</a> that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use "the pretext of a humanitarian or peace-keeping mission as an excuse" to invade eastern Ukraine with the 20,000 combat-ready Russian troops amassed near the border.</p>
<p><span><span>That's certainly one option for Vladimir Putin, <span>although it would come at a steep cost.<span><br /></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span>"Direct invasion still isn't Putin's preferred policy," g<span>eopolitical expert </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ianbremmer">Ian Bremmer</a><span> of the Eurasia Group told Business Insider in an email.</span> "It will be costly/bloody, will drive the Europeans closer to the U.S. on sanctions, the southeast Ukrainian population will be hardened in opposition to Moscow (where right now they're split and more sympathetic), and the Russian population as a whole - very supportive of Putin's Ukraine policy - opposes it."</span><br /><span></span></p>
<p><span>Nevertheless, "i</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">t's clearly Plan B, and Putin recognizes he needs the option," Bremmer continued. "Adding troops to the border, stepping up military exercises, and calling for humanitarian support is first and foremost an effort to back [Ukrainian President </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Petro] </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Poroshenko away from an all out assault on Donetsk and Luhansk."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Ukraine's army has been making steady gains in the weeks after Russian-backed separatists <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/malaysia-airline-evidence-russia-2014-7">shot down</a> a civilian airliner on July 18. Ukrainian troops now appear to be <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukraine-army-prepares-to-move-on-rebels-in-donetsk/2014/08/04/4d060f6c-1bcb-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html">readying a siege</a> on the rebel-held stronghold of <span>Donetsk, and <span>Luhansk</span> is nearly surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="NSDC" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53e259e9ecad04142165f088-960/buwgwhtcaaa7gti.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>NSDC</span></p></div><p></p></div></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Bremmer says Putin's primary preference is to play the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nomura-putin-is-in-check-but-far-from-checkmate-2014-7">long game</a>, which involves backing separatists to "keep up the military pressure on Ukraine, add to that an economy that's ever closer to collapse, and force a deep federalist outcome that formalizes Russian influence over the country."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span><span>However, continued success by Ukraine's army in rebel-held areas would change Putin's calculations.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span>"I could easily see the separatists calling for <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> peacekeepers to protect them from a 'humanitarian crisis' - and Putin, having himself called for ceasefires and humanitarian missions to protect the ethnic Russians on the ground (who he's been providing weapons to), then responding to their request," Bremmer said. "Keep in mind, Putin formally 'respected' the outcome of their referenda, just as he 'respected' the outcome of the Ukrainian elections."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The Russian Foreign Ministry has already <a href="http://en.ria.ru/society/20140804/191698206/Ukraine-Still-Not-Accepting-Russias-Humanitarian-Aid-for-Donbas-.html">offered</a> to take an "active role" to address the humanitarian crisis in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donets_Basin">Donbas</a>, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine (as well as parts of southwest Russia). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">And the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">fact that Moscow respected the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk means that Putin could say that Russian troops were not <em>actually</em> entering Ukrainian territory.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Consequently, Russian troops may be able to enter eastern Ukraine without a unified response from the rest of world.</span></p>
<p><span>"Then what? The U.S. would consider that an invasion. But would the Europeans? There are a great many that would like to equivocate," Bremmer noted. "And of course, the rest of the BRICS [Brazil, India, China, and South Africa] won't touch any of it."</span></p>

BREMMER: Invading Eastern Ukraine Is Clearly Putin's Plan B

Our nation is poised to become the world’s youngest country by 2020, with an average age of 29 years. Coinciding with that event, India will account for 28% of the world’s workforce, according to an E&amp;Y- FICCI report.<br />
<br /> Reports indicate that the vast talent pool of the country suffers from either not having the <keyword id="33447" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="skills">skills</keyword> to be employable or in many instances are not being able to signal their availability for <keyword id="11018" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Jobs">jobs</keyword> matching their skills due to an inefficient marketplace for jobs. This is especially true for jobs at entry level or mass recruitment, since a majority of the jobs tend to be the lower levels of in the hierarchy.<br />
<br /> Of the five million graduates, only 34% are readily employable. Most lack necessary skills required for any role in any industry, according to an assessment tests done by Wheebox-People Strong in association with <keyword id="6358345" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CII">CII</keyword>. <keyword id="6372870" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Census">Census</keyword> data released in September 2013 indicated that 63.4% of India’s total population falls in the working age group. According to a study on skill development in India conducted by NSDC, 1 million people join the workforce every month i.e. over 12 million per year.They can be categorized as highly skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, with majority falling in the last category.How this issue of employability is addressed will determine whether India eventually experiences a demographic dividend or a demographic nightmare.<br />
<br />
According to another study by Aspiring Minds, 47% of graduates are not employable in any sector of the economy. Poor knowledge of English and inadequate computing skills are compounded by the absence of even basic domain knowledge for roles and industry that job seekers hope to join. Unfortunately a vast majority of students prefer dead-end and non-value adding graduate degree to vocational training.<br />
<br /> A reorientation towards vocational training or introduction of strong aspects of “learning by doing” and soft skills in graduate programmes can remedy this situation. As an immediate response, the <keyword id="26362" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Government">Government</keyword> is striving to achieve formal/informal skill development of the working population through various initiatives, which employ fresh learning methods.HR professionals and the Government together need to devise educational programmes which impart the required skills to the students to make them productive and employable. The private sector needs to spell out what is it that they are looking for in a fresher.<br />
<br />
The private sector is also taking several initiatives to contribute effectively to the Government’s endeavors. Companies and industry associations across business sectors, are not only creating their in-house training facilities, but are also taking steps to make potential employees job-ready before they join organizations. A number of the jobs available for the low-end white-collar workers require a very basic level of training. What’s more in the service sector, most employers are willing to provide such training and job seekers to be gainfully employed. Besides the efforts being made towards training them and arming them with better skills, it is also crucial to identify their existing skills and preferences and connect them to jobs that they are most suited for.<br />
<br /> Hence, it is not quite correct to say that most graduates are ‘unemployable’, since with a basic level of training interventions and on the job training, job seekers can be prepared for roles in field sales, customer service, in-store sales, back-office, logistics etc,graduates who can thus become skilled workers and be productive is huge. The skill <keyword id="6420764" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="deficit">deficit</keyword> is definitely over-hyped as far as the service sector is concerned. Quite often it is simply an issue of an inefficient marketplace, which makes it difficult to for a candidate with high “fit” and “intent” to signal their presence to employers.<br />
<br />
Skill deficit is more of a reality in manufacturing where technical expertise and training is often lacking.<br />
It is therefore a fair conclusion that the skill deficit, though real, is often a match-making deficiency in the mass recruitment segment, especially in services industry. Being able to identify candidates with high intent and fit and provide a clearing or pre-screening mechanism can solve a significant part of the woes.<br />
<br />
<br />
(Pallav Sinha is the Founder and CEO, MeraJob, an online job portal. Visit at ​http://www.merajobindia.com/)

Jobs: Skill deficit , a myth or reality?

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Ukraine's government is in a perilous position after Russian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-president-russian-troops-are-advancing-in-ukraine-2014-8" target="_blank">troops' advances into southeastern regions in the country</a>, and it's likely the country will have to accept a ceasefire that hands over large swaths of territory to pro-Russian separatists.</p>
<p>Geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, told Business Insider in an email that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is now backed into a corner. And Bremmer said he'll likely seek a quick ceasefire solution to prevent his country's economy from completely collapsing.</p>
<p><span><strong>"The Ukrainian government has been in an impossible position, they gambled, and they've lost,"</strong> Bremmer said. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"Poroshenko now needs a ceasefire so that he can try to restart negotiations, the terms of which will effectively mean freezing the conflict and ceding significant pieces of Ukrainian territory to the separatists. That's politically perilous for him and risks counterdemonstrations against his government in kiev. All the while his economy will be falling apart, with very limited support from the West.</span></p>
<p><span>"But there's no other way out."</span></p>
<p><span>Ukraine and Russia are now "at war," Bremmer said, after the Ukrainian government's gamble did not pay off. Russia continued to escalate the situation in response to a strong offensive from Ukraine's military in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where fighting between the government and the separatists has raged for months. But Russia has important oil, gas, and military ties to Ukraine, as Bremmer pointed out:</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Why does Russia need <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash">#Ukraine</a>? Supply Chain (ht WaPo) <a href="http://t.co/EwMVhllu9G">pic.twitter.com/EwMVhllu9G</a></p>
- ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/statuses/504957507719417856">August 28, 2014</a><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></blockquote>
<p>Limited Russian support, in the terms of military advisers and weapons, was no longer enough. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-calls-ukraine-bluff-bremmer-russia-invasion-obama-2014-8" target="_blank">Putin called Ukraine and the West's bluff</a>, continuing to send weaponry to the pro-Russian separatists while Russia fired artillery from inside Ukraine. Now, NATO and U.S. officials <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html" target="_blank">believe</a> that more than 1,000 Russian troops are fighting alongside the separatists.</p>
<p><span>"The Ukrainian government apparently believed either that they could actually prevail or that they could force the West to provide meaningful direct military assistance. Either way, Kiev was badly mistaken," Bremmer said.</span></p>
<p>Indeed, the West has been slow to respond - even to the latest blatant escalation in the conflict. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki repeatedly refused to call Russia's moves an "invasion" on Wednesday, using the word "incursion" instead. </p>
<p>The West's response is likely to be fragmented even as sanctions will probably be increased to even tougher levels, Bremmer said, as European leaders question their deterrence policy. </p>
<p><span>Ukrainian Prime Minister </span><span>Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday that it's clear <span>U.S. and European Union sanctions leveled on Moscow had not been "helpful" in keeping Putin from continuing to escalate the situation. He said measures like freezing Russian assets and banning Russian bank transactions should be considered as new punitive measures.</span></span></p>
<p><span>"Many Europeans have been deeply skeptical of Russian sanctions from the beginning, and to the extent that the purpose of sanctions was to prevent an invasion. That's clearly failed," Bremmer said.</span></p>
<p>Bremmer does think NATO will respond by ending an agreement with Russia and moving to permanently base troops in the Blatic and Poland. But that's more about NATO and warning Russia for the future - not about Ukraine.</p>
<p><span>"Ukrainians will rightly ask, how does all that help Ukraine? And the answer is: it doesn't." </span></p>
<p><span><strong>Here's the situation in Ukraine on Thursday, according to its military:</strong><br /></span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>

BREMMER: Putin Has Now Cornered Ukraine And Its President

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span>Russia President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine's government to begin negotiations on the issues of statehood for the southeast of Ukraine, where Moscow is backing a rebellion, according to an interview with </span>Russia<span>'s state TV Channel 1.</span></p>
<p>"We must immediately get down to a substantial, substantive negotiations, and not on technical questions, but on the questions of the political organization of society and statehood in the south-east of Ukraine with the purpose of unconditional provision of the lawful interests of people who live there,"  <span>Putin said, according to Interfax and </span><a href="http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-195-assassination-attempt-on-russian-backed-separatist-leader-zakharchenko/#4062"><span>translated by </span>Interpreter Magazine</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The statements are the furthest signal yet that Russia has plans to bring parts of Ukraine back into its orbit, or at least put more pressure on Ukraine to bend to Russia's will. Previously, Russia has only called for greater rights under a decentralized federal system for the regions claimed by separatists.</span></p>
<p>The Interpreter notes that the <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">word Putin used in Russian is "</span>gosudarstvennost,"<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> which means literally "statehood" but can also mean "state system" or "state organization," i.e. form of government.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">It's unclear what the government would look like, but Putin did <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-addresses-pro-russia-rebels-in-ukraine-2014-8">address rebels</a> as <span>the militia of "Novorossyia," or "New Russia," on Friday. The term Novorossyia <span>describes </span><span>the area north of the Black Sea that was conquered by Russia in the late 18th century through peace treaties with the Cossack Hetmanate and the Ottoman Empire. In 1922, the area became part of the Soviet Union. The term is mostly used now by Russian nationalists who wish for Russia to reconquer the area.</span><span><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p> <span>Asked if it was possible to predict the end of the crisis in </span><a class="cite">Ukraine</a><span>, RIA news agency quoted Putin as saying: "No. It largely depends on the political will of current Ukrainian authorities."</span></p>
<p><span>Vladimir Lukin, former Russian ambassador to the U.S., <a href="http://www.interpretermag.com/moscow-views-donetsk-and-luhansk-as-surety-against-ukraine-joining-nato-lukin-says/">told</a> a Russian commentator that Putin will use as much force is necessary to force Kiev to negotiate on Russia's terms.</span></p>
<p>An summer offensive by Ukrainian troops had pushed back Russian-backed separatists until last week, when Russia <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-sargent-this-is-now-a-war-with-russia-2014-8">sent troops</a> over the border and opened a third front in the war.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="NSDC" title_caption="Last week, Russian troops helped separatists open a third front near the city of Mariupol." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5403000f6bb3f73f15bef4cc-960/31-08_eng.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/NSDC_ua">NSDC</a></span></p><p class="caption">Last week, Russian troops helped separatists open a third front near the city of Mariupol.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Now pro-Russian insurgents are advancing for an assault on a major port that could lead to an effort to create a land bridge between Crimea - the strategic Ukrainian peninsula that Putin <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-crimea-takeover-in-3-photos-2014-3">annexed</a> in March - and Russia.</p>
<p>Ukrainian troops and local residents were reinforcing the port of Mariupol on Sunday, the next big city in the path of pro-Russian fighters who pushed back government forces along the Azov Sea this past week in an offensive on a new front.</p>
<p>The new rebel advance has drawn increasing concern from Ukraine's Western allies, who say its success is a result of reinforcement by armoured columns of Russian troops.</p>
<p>European Union leaders agreed on Saturday to draw up new economic sanctions against Moscow, a move hailed by the United States, which is planning tighter sanctions of its own and wants to act jointly with Europe.</p>
<p>Some residents of Mariupol have taken to the streets to show support for the Ukrainian government as the pro-Russian forces gain ground. Many others have fled from the prospect of an all-out assault on the city of nearly 500,000 people.</p>
<p>"We are proud to be from this city and we are ready to defend it from the occupiers," said Alexandra, 28, a post office clerk wearing a ribbon in blue and yellow Ukrainian colours.</p>
<p>"We will dig trenches. We will throw petrol bombs at them, the occupiers," she said. "I believe our army and our (volunteer) battalions will protect us."</p>
<p>Ihor, 42, and his wife Lena, 40, were packing their car to flee with their five-year-old daughter. They had sheltered in Mariupol after battle came to their home city Donetsk in July.</p>
<p>"We will not wait for another repetition of war. We did nothing to provoke it and we do not want to be a part of it," said Lena.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h3>TROOP SWAP</h3>
<p>The swap of soldiers overnight at the frontier was a rare gesture to ease tension, but Kiev and Moscow have given starkly opposing accounts of how their troops came to be on each other's territory.</p>
<p>A Russian paratroop commander said an unspecified number of Russian paratroops were swapped for 63 Ukrainian soldiers. A Ukrainian military source said the Russian soldiers numbered 15.</p>
<p>Kiev and its allies in Europe and the United States say the new rebel offensive has been backed by armoured columns of more than 1,000 Russian troops fighting openly to support the insurgents. The rebels themselves say thousands of Russian troops have fought on their behalf while "on leave".</p>
<p>Moscow denies its troops are fighting in Ukraine and says a small party of its soldiers crossed the border by accident.</p>
<p>Russian Major-General Alexei Ragozin said the paratroops had been handed back after "very difficult" negotiations.</p>
<p>"I consider it unacceptable that our servicemen were detained by the Ukrainian side for so many days. Our lads are upset about everything that happened. They will all receive the necessary psychological and other kinds of help. The lads will all be OK."</p>
<p>Ragozin said Russia, by contrast, had promptly returned hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers who at various times have crossed the border when squeezed by rebel forces. He said the latest group of 63 had entered Russia on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Kiev has in the past said some of its soldiers crossed into Russia to escape from fighting on the Ukrainian side of the frontier, behaviour that contrasts with that of the Russians it says crossed the border to wage war in Ukraine.Ukraine's military spokesman has mocked the idea that the Russians had "got lost like Little Red Riding Hood in the forest".<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<h3>SANCTIONS</h3>
<p>The United States and European Union have gradually tightened economic sanctions against Russia, first imposed after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March following the ousting of Kiev's pro-Russianpresident by protesters.</p>
<p>So far, however, the measures have done little to deter President Vladimir Putin, who has referred to southern andeastern Ukraine as "New Russia".</p>
<p>On Sunday, Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying it was up to Kiev to halt the fighting, and accusing the West of contradicting democratic values by supporting Kiev's military action against the rebels. Russia could not stand aside while people were shot at point-blank, Itar-Tass quoted him as saying.</p>
<p>Putin gave a typically defiant public appearance on Friday in which he described Russians and Ukrainians as "practically one people" and compared Kiev's attempts to recapture rebellious cities with the Nazi invasion of theSoviet Union. Russia is a nuclear power that will defend its interests, and foreigners should understand that "it's best not to mess with us", he said.</p>
<p>Moscow has responded to sanctions by banning the import of most Western foodstuffs, stripping French cheese and Polish apples from store shelves and shutting down McDonalds restaurants. The moves reinforce a sense among Russians that they are isolated from a hostile world, as in Cold War days.</p>
<p>Agreeing the Western sanctions has been tricky, not least because the 28-member European Union must take decisions by consensus and many of its countries depend on Russian energy resources.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the EU has gone further than many had predicted, agreeing to impose sanctions on Russia's financial and oil industries last month after a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel territory, killing nearly 300 people, most of them Dutch.</p>
<p>EU leaders agreed on Saturday to ask the executive European Commission to draw up more sanctions measures, which could be adopted in coming days after review.</p>
<p>The White House praised the move to "show strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity". But in a sign of the difficulty in achieving an EU consensus, the leader of tiny Slovakia threatened to veto any sanctions that damaged his country's national interest.</p>
<p>(Reuters reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Aleksandar Vasovic, Richard Balmforth in Kiev and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Mark Heinrich)</p>

Putin Wants 'Statehood' For Southeastern Ukraine

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power lashed out at Russia on Thursday, a day that saw <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-president-russian-troops-are-advancing-in-ukraine-2014-8" target="_blank">Ukraine's president accused Russia of sending troops</a> across the Ukrainian border to fight with pro-Russian separatist rebels.</p>
<p>Speaking at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Power said it is clear Russia has armed, equipped, and "now joined" the rebels in southeastern regions of Ukraine, where fighting has raged for months. In sharp rhetoric that went further than statements from the White House and State Department, Power accused Russia of engaging in a campaign of "outright lies."</p>
<p>"They have manipulated<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, obfuscated, and outright lied," Power said, after opening the meeting by noting, exasperatedly, that it was the 24th Security Council meeting on Ukraine.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The mask is coming off," she added.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Power said Russia's "blatant disregard" for international order would be a threat to to international peace and security. She referenced the 12 countries that border Russia to urge action.</span></p>
<p><span>"How can we tell those countries that border Russia that their peace and sovereignty is guaranteed if we do not make our message heard on Ukraine?" Power said. </span></p>
<p><span>"Why should they believe it will be different if tomorrow, President Putin decides to start supporting armed separatists and allowing soldiers 'on vacation' to fight in their countries? And, just as important, what message are we sending to other countries with similarly alarming ambitions around the world, when we let Russia violate these rules without sufficient consequences? In the face of this threat, the cost of inaction is unacceptable."</span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span>The emergency meeting of the security council was called after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Russian troops were fighting on the side of separatists in Ukraine and were advancing in the southeast region of the country. NATO subsequently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nato-satellite-photo-evidence-russia-lying-about-ukraine-2014-8">echoed his allegations</a>. <br /></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p>Ukraine's defense council said Russian troops are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-sargent-this-is-now-a-war-with-russia-2014-8">leading</a> a separatist counteroffensive in the east, bringing in tanks and using artillery from inside Ukrainian territory.</p>
<p>A Russian-backed rebel leader <a href="http://en.itar-tass.com/world/747005">said</a> that at least 3,000 to 4,000 Russian troops were fighting inside Ukraine.</p>
<p>"Current servicemen are also fighting in our ranks, as they came to us to struggle for our freedom instead of their vacations," prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko told Russian media. "This is characteristic only for Russians."</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here are Power's full remarks:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Mr. President, representatives on this Council, this is our 24<sup>th</sup> session to try to rein in Russia's aggressive acts in Ukraine. Every single one of those sessions has sent a straight-forward, unified message: Russia, stop this conflict. Russia is not listening.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We said it when Russia flagrantly violated international law in occupying Crimea. We said it after the shocking downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17, which took the lives of innocent men, women, children, and infants from 11 countries. And we say it today, as Russia's soldiers, tanks, air defense, and artillery support and fight alongside separatists as they open a new front in a crisis manufactured in and fueled by Russia.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">But Russia is not listening.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Instead of listening, instead of heeding the demands of the international community and the rules of the international order, at every step, Russia has come before this Council to say everything except the truth. It has manipulated. It has obfuscated. It has outright lied. So we have learned to measure Russia by its actions and not by its words.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In the last 48 hours, Russia's actions have spoken volumes.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On August 26 - just this Tuesday - after meeting with Ukrainian President Poroshenko in Minsk, Belarus, President Putin spoke of the need to quote "end bloodshed as soon as possible." End quote. Yet the same day, satellite imagery show(s) Russian combat units - combat units - southeast of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. That same day in Luhansk, Ukraine detained regular Russian Army personnel from the 9th brigade.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In response, Russia claimed the soldiers had wandered into Ukrainian territory "by mistake." This, supposedly, in a time of conflict along one of the most carefully watched borders in the world.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The day after those talks, Russia fired Grad rockets from inside Russia at Ukrainian positions in Novoazovsk, and then attacked with two columns of Russian armored vehicles and tanks.  Russian armored vehicles and Uragan multiple rocket launchers are positioned on the outskirts of that town as we speak. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Russia's force along the border is the largest it has been since it began redeploying forces there in late May, and includes significant numbers of combat aircraft and helicopters. Russian unmanned aircraft routinely cross into Ukrainian airspace.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Other Russian deployments into Ukrainian territory include advanced artillery and air defense systems not found in the Ukrainian inventory. These artillery systems have shelled Ukrainian positions outside Luhansk City in conjunction with the recent separatist counteroffensive.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">One of the separatist leaders that Russia has armed and backed said openly that three or four thousand Russian soldiers have joined their cause. He was quick to clarify that these soldiers were on vacation. But a Russian soldier who chooses to fight in Ukraine on his summer break is still a Russian soldier. And the armored Russian military vehicle he drives there is not his personal car.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Meanwhile, in Russia, family members of Russian soldiers are holding funerals for their loved ones who have been killed in the fighting in Ukraine. They're demanding answers for how they were killed. Journalists who try to cover these funerals are harassed and threatened by armed men. Yet, still, according to the Russian government, the soldiers were never there. They were never in Crimea either, until Russia announced that those soldiers who were never there had annexed Crimea.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The last 48 hours fit into a well-established pattern for Russia. Each step has paved the way for the one that followed. And yet in spite of all of these outrageous actions, Ukraine has repeatedly sought a political solution to this crisis. It has repeatedly sought a path to de-escalation. Despite this pattern, President Poroshenko showed up in Minsk to meet with President Putin. In contrast, President Putin was still unwilling to acknowledge the most basic facts we all know: that Russia has armed, equipped, and now joined illegal separatists fighting in Ukraine. Serious negotiations are needed, urgently needed. But Russia has to stop lying and has to stop fueling this conflict.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The mask is coming off. In these acts - these recent acts - we see Russia's actions for what they are: a deliberate effort to support, and now fight alongside, illegal separatists in another sovereign country.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Now, Russia has claimed that Ukraine is not interested in a ceasefire, but let's be clear: we have every interest in a ceasefire, as do the Ukrainians, as long as it is a real one. But Russian separatists not only have no interest in observing a ceasefire, but they cynically use the time to rearm and wait for additional soldiers and supplies to flow across the border from Russia.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In the face of these deeply alarming actions, the most important question for us now is not what we should say to Russia. The most important question is what we should do to make Russia listen.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The United States has, throughout this crisis, and in close coordination with our European partners, the EU and the G7, exerted targeted, effective pressure so that this message is heard,  so that Russia begins to de-escalate, rather than escalate, so that the reasonable peace plan put forward by President Poroshenko is adopted and implemented. And in the face of Russia's continued aggression and blatant disregard for the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, we will continue to work closely with our G7 and European partners to ratchet up the consequences on Russia. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Now, I understand that there are real costs felt by citizens of countries when their governments take these actions. It has costs for businesses that trade with Russia and sell to Russian markets, from small-scale farmers to big factories. Those costs are considerable, and nobody should take them lightly.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But let's be clear: if unchecked, the damage that Russia's blatant disregard for the international order poses is much, much greater. These rules and principles that have taken generations to build, with unparalleled investment - countless lives have been lost to establish and defend these principles. And every single one of us has a stake in defending them. A threat to the order - the international order - is a threat to all of our peace and security.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">These are the rules that Russia is flouting when it illegally seizes territory and arms, equips, and fights alongside illegal groups in neighboring countries.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Ukraine is one of roughly a dozen countries that share a border with Russia. Let me close with a couple questions: How can we tell those countries that border Russia that their peace and sovereignty is guaranteed if we do not make our message heard on Ukraine? Why should they believe it will be different if tomorrow, President Putin decides to start supporting armed separatists and allowing soldiers "on vacation" to fight in their countries? And, just as important, what message are we sending to other countries with similarly alarming ambitions around the world, when we let Russia violate these rules without sufficient consequences?  In the face of this threat, the cost of inaction is unacceptable.</p>

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