Ukraine parliament declares Russia an ‘aggressor state’ (LIVE BLOG)

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US diplomat says NATO allies must stay firm on Ukraine

Agence France-Presse — NATO allies must stay the course in Ukraine, the top US diplomat for Europe insisted Tuesday, calling for alliance command and control centers to be set up quickly in Kiev's neighbors.

"We have to keep our security commitments to each other," said Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland said, adding that all NATO allies must contribute to the new "spearhead force which will allow us to speed forces to troubled spots."

"And we must install command and control centers in all six frontline states as soon as possible," she said.

Elderly seek safety in school basement

These photos taken by AFP/Getty photographer Alexander Gayuk show elderly people taking refuge in the basement of an abandoned boarding school in Donetsk. 

Background on the conflict

Hospital shelled in Debaltseve

Debaltseve, a strategic road and rail hub northeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, still remains one of the most intense flashpoints along the front. 

An earlier report claimed pro-Russian forces shelled a hospital near the city with Grad rockets. 

Donetsk regional officials later said one nurse was killed, and that they would evacuate the hospital further north to nearby Artemivsk.

The lives lost in Mariupol

The southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol came under intense shelling over the weekend, killing at least 20 civilians and injuring many more. On Tuesday, the United Nations said the attacks could amount to war crimes. 

"[UN security chief] Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who examined the craters reported that the rockets originated from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebel separatists," The Associated Press reported.

Today, relatives of those who were killed buried the dead.

More than 1,000 children living in underground shelters in Donetsk

Agence France-Presse — About 1,100 children are living rough in underground shelters in Ukraine's rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk, the UN children's agency said Tuesday.

"We were able to assess 12 bomb shelters where there are adults and parents with the children," UNICEF's representative in Ukraine Giovanna Barberis said.

"They are not going out, they are not going to school," she told reporters in Geneva through a video link.

"Children in the affected areas have been suffering enormous levels of stress due to the ongoing conflict," she said. "The most vulnerable are those who are forced to seek refuge in unsanitary, crowded and freezing cellars and bomb shelters."

On Ukraine's Right Sector

The Right Sector first gained media fame during last winter's street protests on Independence Square, which led to the ouster of corrupt former President Viktor Yanukovych.

While they were blamed for sparking the clashes that eventual lead to deadly confrontations between protesters and police, their political significance has never been more than marginal — as evidenced by its poor performance in Ukraine's last two elections.

But they're apparently pulling their weight on the front: Right Sector's volunteer battalion was involved in the months-long battle for the highly-symbolic Donetsk airport in the rebel stronghold. Even its leader, Dmytro Yarosh, was wounded in the fighting, which reached a new peak this month.

The Kyiv Post reports that teenagers as young as 16 years old are now joining the DUK Battalion, which is affiliated with the group.

EU agrees 1.8 billion euros for Ukraine, to consider more

Reuters — EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to loan Ukraine 1.8 billion euros ($2.0 billion) to help save it from bankruptcy, leaving open the option of increasing aid at a later stage. 

From crisis to war

European Union leaders called for "It has taken a long time for the realisation to sink in that Ukraine's “crisis” is really a war, and quite possibly a long one," The Economist reports, adding, "With separatist forces again on the offensive, eastern Ukraine is taking ever darker turns."

EU mulls more sanctions

European Union leaders called for more sanctions following the escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine. View the statement here. The Associated Press reports:

In Tuesday's rare joint declaration outside their regular summit meetings, the 28 leaders asked an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday "to consider any appropriate action, in particular on further restrictive measures" if the situation in eastern Ukraine does not improve fast.

But Greece apparently didn't agree to the EU statement.  

GlobalPost's Dan Peleschuk explains why Russia "may have just won a new friend" in Greece:

First, Russia’s close historical, cultural and religious ties with Greece — both countries are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian — go way back.

Then there’s the politics: While Syriza members have tried to allay fears the radical leftist coalition would seek to pull Greece out of NATO, they do openly challenge the military alliance’s utility and importance.

That’s key because the Kremlin isn’t exactly NATO’s biggest fan either. (Putin himself on Monday even slammed Ukraine’s army as a “NATO legion” serving foreign geopolitical interests.)

Perhaps even more important is speculation that Syriza may help block crippling European Union sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, measures the radical Greeks have repeatedly criticized.

Ukraine calls Russia 'aggressor state'

Reuters —  Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday approved a statement defining Russia as an "aggressor state," which deputies said could pave the way for consequences under international law, and called for more international aid and stronger sanctions on Russia.

"Legal recognition as an aggressor state entails consequences as provided for under 1974 UN resolution and the UN charter," Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko, a member of the governing coalition, said ahead of the vote.

Parliament also voted to define separatist self-styled "Republics" in east Ukraine as "terrorist organizations" and to appeal to the international community for additional non-lethal military aid and stronger sanctions against Russia.