US 'considers arming Ukrainian army' as fighting continues in the east

Fears of proxy war between US and Russia in Ukraine deepen after report that Washington could provide arms to Kiev

Ukrainian soldiers in an armoured vehicle near the city of Artemivsk, in the Donetsk region

The spectre of a deepening proxy war in Ukraine involving both Russiaand the United States has raised its head after reports that the White House is considering supplying weapons to Kiev.

Washington has so far refused to supply weapons to the pro-Western Ukrainian government but reports suggest that a growing number of President Barack Obama's advisors are now warming to the idea.

According to the New York Times, General Philip Breedlove, Nato's military commander, supports providing arms and equipment to Ukraine’s hard-pressed forces, which are struggling to quell an uprising led by Russian-backed separatists.

Other senior officials including John Kerry, the US secretary of state, are also said to be open shifting American policy and beginning to send weapons to Kiev.

It is not clear if the growing number of hawks will be able to sway Mr Obama, who has so far been reluctant to escalate the standoff with Russia beyond economic sanctions.

While the US and European sanctions have taken a toll on Russia's economy they have not succeeded in convincing Vladimir Putin to end his intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Instead, Russian troops and tanks have continued to pour over the border in support of separatists fighting against the Ukrainian government and a ceasefire agreement between the two sides has collapsed into full-scale fighting.

Around 5,000 people have been killed since the armed conflict broke out in the spring of 2014, according to the UN. Around 50 people died over the weekend.

A spokeswoman for the State Department did not deny that the US was considering sending weapons but said no decision had been made.

"I don't think anybody wants to get into a proxy war with Russia and that is not our objective here. Our objective is to change the behaviour of Russia," she said.

A group of well-respected former US officials and academics released a new report on Monday arguing that the ongoing fighting in Ukraine shows the need for Washington to begin arming Kiev's forces.

"The West needs to bolster deterrence in Ukraine by raising the risks and costs to Russia of any renewed major offensive," the report says.

Its authors include James Stavridis, Gen Breedlove's predecessor as Nato's military commander, and Michele Flournoy, a former Pentagon official who would be in the running to become US defence secretary if Hillary Clinton wins the next election.

The report calls for America to give the Ukrainians anti-tank weapons for use against Russian armoured vehicles. Most of Kiev's anti-tank stockpile is left over from the Soviet era and around 70 per cent of the weapons are reportedly unusable.

If the White House followed the group's recommendations it would likely to lead to Russian troops being killed by American-supplied weapons and significantly raise the stakes of the West's standoff with Moscow.

"No one in our group made this recommendation lightly," said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and one of the report's authors. "But Russia has been escalating because they see potential gains and very little cost. If you take away the so-called cheap military options there's a chance you can steer the Russians towards a real negotiation."

Mr Pifer told The Telegraph that if the US began supplying arms other Nato allies like Britain, Canada and Poland might follow suit.

Britain has so far supplied non-lethal support to the Ukrainians and a Foreign Office spokesman indicated that the UK was unlikely to begin sending arms. “We are clear that there cannot be a military solution to this crisis," he said.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, categorically ruled out her country sending arms, saying: "It is my firm belief that this conflict cannot be solved militarily."

By Tom Parfitt