A week ago militants seized government buildings in three eastern Ukrainian cities in what Secretary of State John F. Kerry charged was “an illegal and illegitimate effort” by Russia to “create a contrived crisis with paid operatives.” Mr. Kerry threatened that the United States would respond with sanctions against Russia’s mining, energy and banking sectors. But in the following days the Obama administration failed to act, other than against a few minor figures in occupied Crimea. Group of Seven finance ministers meeting in Washington on Thursday also could not agree on any measures.
Consequently, none of those governments should have been surprised by the broader and more audacious offensive launched in eastern Ukraine over the weekend. According to independent observers, bus loads of men in camouflage uniforms carrying Russian weapons attacked government buildings in at least four more towns. On Sunday, fighting broke out as Ukrainian forces tried to retake a building in the town of Slovyansk.
Once again senior U.S. and European officials charged that Russia was behind the attacks. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the actions were “professional,” “coordinated,” and bore “tell-tale signs of Moscow’s involvement.”
How much more action must Russia take to provoke a response? For weeks President Obama has been saying that a military intervention in eastern Ukraine would prompt U.S. sanctions far more consequential than the measures taken against a handful of Vladimir Putin’s cronies and one bank on March 20. By the U.S. account, that military intervention is now underway. Officials say it closely resembles the quasi-covert Russian military operation that led to the annexation of Crimea.
A tough Western reaction might have stopped the Russian offensive after last weekend. Now it is far more dangerous. The bloodshed reported Sunday may be taken by the Kremlin as an excuse to order a more overt invasion by the tens of thousands of troops it has massed near the border. It may be too late to prevent war in eastern Ukraine. But the United States must quickly take the measures promised by Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry, or lose what little credibility it has left.
Editorial, Pages 16 on 04/15/2014