Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “The 2014 Minsk Agreement was an attempt to give Ukraine time. They used that time to get stronger, which you can see today. Ukraine of 2014/15 is not Ukraine of today. Like us at the If we could see fighting near Debaltsevo in 2015, Russia could easily have won then, and I very much doubt that NATO countries could have done as much for Ukraine then as they are doing now, we all knew that, that the conflict was frozen, that the problem was not resolved, but that is exactly what bought Ukraine valuable time.
Can anyone tell me, how can Russia ever trust the West again, how can they ever commit to a possible future peace agreement? I would say they can’t!!!”
Analyst Comment: This is translated from German so it is a little rough. The gist of the full interview is that Merkel admits Western nations never intended to follow the Minsk Agreement, and simply wanted to build up Ukraine as a de facto NATO member.