There is no end in sight for the Ukraine war.

Following the official breakdown of a ceasefire that never really took hold in the first place, fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine over the past month. Rebels finally managed to take the airport in Donetsk two weeks ago, the site of bitter, close-combat fighting that had been raging on and off since May 2014. Mariupol was also targeted by rebels in recent rocket attacks. The city’s port would provide an important economic and logistical lifeline to separatist forces should they take and hold it. There is also renewed fighting in Debaltseve, a crucial rail hub where hundreds of Ukrainian troops are said to be surrounded on all sides by rebel forces.

Russian troops and hardware on the front continues to be the worst-kept secret in recent military history. Adding to the ever-growing body of evidence of Russian involvement are reports of T-80 tanks helping with the latest push. The Putin government still denies any official Russian involvement, though he has admitted that ‘volunteers’ may have crossed the border to join the fight.

Faced with the apparent futility of peace talks and a string of military setbacks on the ground, the US administration is considering providing government forces with defensive weapons as a way to ‘even the odds’ against the Russia-backed rebels.