Moscow and NATO Trade Barbs as Fighting Intensifies in Ukraine

TIME World Ukraine Moscow and NATO Trade Barbs as Fighting Intensifies in Ukraine Azif Alikberov recovers in a hospital after being wounded as fighting erupted in Mariupol, Ukraine on Jan. 26, 2014. Oleksandr Stashevskiy AFP/Getty Images Putin continues to blame a "NATO foreign legion" for the war in Ukraine, while the alliance says Russia is responsible for the resumed fighting

Clashes continued to escalate in Ukraines war-torn Donbas region Monday after a weekend of fierce fighting and shelling in the countrys southeast rendered a five-month-old peace accord all but dead.

On Monday, pro-Russian insurgents encircled a government garrison in the town of Debaltseve that lies along a main road and rail route between two vital rebel strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk, according to Reuters.

The Ukrainian government has declared the imposition of emergency rule in the embattled Donetsk and Luhansk regions and placed the entire country on full readiness, according to President Petro Poroshenkos office.

Moscow continued to saddle Poroshenkos office with responsibility for the conflict this week, and chided his administration for refusing to engineer a political settlement with Kremlin-aligned forces that have effectively seceded from the state.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of relying on a foreign legion to wage war against separatist militias.

Essentially, this is not an army but is a foreign legion, in this particular case, a NATO foreign legion, which is not pursuing Ukraines national interests of course, Putin told students at St. Petersburgs Mining University.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later dismissed Putins accusation as nonsense following an emergency meeting with the alliances ambassadors and Ukrainian diplomats in Brussels the first such session in six months.

At a brief press conference following the meeting, Stoltenberg lambasted the Kremlin for allegedly providing insurgent forces in southeast Ukraine with advanced heavy artillery, tanks, armored vehicles and manpower in recent weeks.

We call on Russia to stop its support for the separatists immediately, he told reporters.

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Moscow and NATO Trade Barbs as Fighting Intensifies in Ukraine