EU’s Barroso warns Ukraine crisis nearing ‘point of no return’

The crisis in Ukraine is reaching the point of no return, EU Commission head Jose Manual Barroso said on Saturday, after reports Russian troops were fighting in the east of the country. At the same time, Barroso said it was both imperative and not too late to find a political solution to the conflict which has cost more than 2,500 lives since April. EU leaders are expected to agree on tougher sanctions against Russia later today after NATO charged that Moscow now had 1,000 troops fighting in support of rebel forces in southeastern Ukraine and had shipped in large amounts of heavy weaponry.

We are in a very serious, I would say, dramatic situation… where we can reach the point of no return. If the escalation of the conflict continues, this point can come.

EU Commission head Jose Manual Barroso

Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko said his meetings in Brussels were an important demonstration of Europe’s solidarity with his country, adding that the crisis posed a “very high risk” to Ukraine and European stability. But he said there could be no military solution to the conflict and that he was hopeful that there could still be progress with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Minsk on Tuesday. Russia had earlier denied all claims by NATO that they had sent forces to eastern part of Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists.

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