Ukraine's new leader has threatened to revoke his truce after pro-Russian rebels downed an army helicopter despite ceasefire orders from their own commander, killing nine servicemen.
The Mi-8 helicopter's shooting underscores the limited control both Russia and senior rebel leaders seem to have over some militia units that are apparently operating according to their own rules in the heavily Russified rustbelt.
It also threatens to quash budding hopes that Ukraine's Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko - having ordered a one-week unilateral ceasefire on Friday that the rebels accepted on Monday - will be able to negotiate an end to 11 weeks of violence that have claimed 435 lives, according to UN figures.
The Donetsk region where the helicopter was hit and the neighbouring Lugansk province proclaimed independence in May in the wake of the February ouster in Kiev of a pro-Russian president.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin decided not to follow up his March annexation of Crimea by claiming control over the two territories in a land-grab that could have plunged Europe into all-out war.
He took another step aimed at appeasing the West by asking politicians on Tuesday to rescind their March 1 authorisation for Kremlin forces to occupy parts of Ukraine.
The Kremlin chief's decision came with Russia facing the threat of devastating Western economic sanctions unless Putin took immediate steps to de-escalate the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
The White House said it was encouraged both by Putin's latest steps and the rebels' acceptance of Poroshenko's temporary ceasefire.
"That said, in the coming days ... it is actions, not just words, that will be critical," White House spokesman Josh Earnest added.
But even the guarded optimism expressed by the White House appeared premature when Poroshenko announced moments later that he was ready to relaunch the eastern campaign with renewed force.
"The head of state does not exclude that the ceasefire regime may be revoked ahead of schedule in view of its constant violation by rebels who are controlled from abroad," his office said in a statement.
Poroshenko added that he hoped to discuss the latest incident with Putin in a teleconference that would also be joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
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