The ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists is a fiction, the head of? Ukraine’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday. Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, D.C., Hanna Hopko said her best friend’s husband, who was a Ukrainian soldier, was killed by “Russian soldiers” last week. “Every day, Ukraine is losing the best people of our country,” she said. “There is no ceasefire.” Hopko said NATO needs to be more proactive to prevent a potential conflict because Russian President Vladimir Putin is unpredictable. “He will not stop unless he is stopped,” she said. Exercises with NATO members and technical assistance, Hopko said, would prepare Ukraine for escalations. She called it a “pity” that President Barack Obama had not visited her country. “I think the Ukrainian people deserve to see the President of the United States in Ukraine …” (See also: Talking the Talk.)
A Defense Department team is on the ground in Ukraine assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops gather on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance can be…