The Independent: Ukraine crisis: House of Lords criticises EU and Britain for 'sleepwalking into crisis' as Moscow and Nato remain on diplomatic collision course

The fraught relationship between Russia and the West, which was supposed to improve following an agreement over Ukraine, has descended instead into renewed acrimony after a series of tense military and diplomatic confrontations.

France and Germany, which had brokered the Minsk accord last week, were yesterday trying to hold together the increasingly fragile ceasefire in Ukraine amid reports that fighting was spreading once again. Kremlin-backed separatists and Cossack fighters triumphantly paraded through the shattered town of Debaltseve, a strategic point they had captured in the past 48 hours.

WNU Editor: Diplomatically .... Russian - NATO relations are in "the toilet" .... and these relations are probably going to be there for a long time. As to this escalating into a military confrontation, the Estonian PM says it right .... Russian Attack On NATO Would Be 'Insane' (SKY News) .... in short .... it is not going to happen.