Sanctions on Russia fail to stop interference in Ukraine

In Ukraine, everyday people are losing their lives. Russia's Vladimir Putin seems immune to sanctions. The rebels he's backing aren't backing down and Ukraine is bringing in its own punitive measures. Today, we look at what can be done about a conflict some say is fast becoming a full-blown civil war.

The latest recent attack in the heart of the densely-populated, and hotly contested, Ukrainian city of Mariupol has killed 30 people, including 2 children, and injured 100 more.

According to the U.N.'s political affairs chief, speaking at an emergency Security Council meeting yesterday, the attacks on Mariupol are deliberately targeting civilians -- making them crimes of war.

It's not only happening in Mariupol. Last week an attack on a bus in Donetsk left 13 people dead. The United Nations says at least 262 people have died in Ukraine just this month -- among the thousands overall since the conflict broke out nine months ago.

For all the murkiness of what's happening along the border with Russia, what does seem increasingly clear is that the local ceasefire is not holding... and the many sanctions imposed on Russia have simply failed to calm the conflict.

Shaun Walkeris the Moscow correspondent for The Guardian. He was in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Canadian Michael Bociurkiw is the spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The OSCE has an ongoing monitoring mission in Ukraine. He was Kiev.

Getting a clear understanding of the violence unfolding in eastern Ukraine right now can be difficult given the circumstances on the ground.Trying to put an end to that violence introduces a whole new layer of complexity.

We brought together a panel now to help unpack the situation there, and consider solutions that just may work.

• Steve Levine is Washington Correspondent for Quartz and the author of "Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia." He was in Washington.

• Piotr Dutkiewicz is a professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa.

This segment was produced by The Current's Kristin Nelson, Naheed Mustafa and Pacinthe Mattar.