A pro-Russian separatist aims his rifle towards a suspect car while patrolling a village, near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve, in the Donetsk region, on January 28, 2015. Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko made a personal plea to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Washington threatened tougher measures should Moscow fail to rein in separatists mounting a new offensive in the east of the ex-Soviet republic. AFP PHOTO / MANU BRABO