Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says his country has paid "the highest possible price" to achieve the goal of a free trade agreement with the European Union -- a goal reached Friday when he signed the deal at a summit in Brussels.
Earlier in the day Poroshenko called the signing "historic," despite negative reaction from Moscow. Russia's deputy foreign minister said Ukraine's move is "fraught with serious consequences."
Russia's deputy foreign minister said Ukraine's move is "fraught with serious consequences." A Kremlin spokesman also told Russian state media that Russia will take action to protect its economy if it is negatively affected.
The EU trade agreement was at the center of the political uprising that drove former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych from office earlier this year and later led to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, where loyalty to Russia runs high. The conflict has turned deadly with clashes between Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russia separatists in the east.
Well. That was rough. In ongoing news, Pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country are now losing badly to the government. They have been shelled out of a city beginning with S. The separatists are feeling abandoned by Russia. Someone somewhere said that Russia will go for ALL of Ukraine, if it goes for it seriously. It won't actually throw itself into carving bits off the east. At the moment Russia seems content with Crimea, although its language is still belligerent.