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The US has bought the Kiev government, trained its troops and has been sending equipment to Ukraine, Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, told RT. It would be naïve to assume that the US has backed off on the situation.

At least one civilian has been killed in the shelling of Donetsk which is an apparent violation of the ceasefire reached under the Minsk agreement.

RT: Let’s start with a statement from Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, on the situation in Ukraine. She said that none on the Ukrainian side has “any intention of launching new hostilities”. So in light of this shelling, does the US trust in the Ukrainian government seem misguided?

Daniel McAdams: I don’t know that there is any US trust in the Ukrainian government. I think that would be very naïve to think Poroshenko is doing this on his own. Even though we heard Kerry last week saying that Poroshenko’s vow to retake Eastern Ukraine… that he should shut up about it. The US has been training Ukrainian troops, it has been sending in dozens if not more Humvees and other equipment, they have been providing the capability for the Ukrainian National Guard and army to attack Eastern Ukraine. Why should there be any surprise, they have been emboldened by this US assistance and there is no indication that the US has told them to cool it. So I don’t think we should be surprised at all that this is happening.

RT: Just last week President Poroshenko said Kiev will keep on fighting and will retake Donetsk airport by any means necessary. Is this what we're seeing now?

DM: It’s spring time, it’s time for that. If the US was serious about castigating Poroshenko for this remark they would pull their troops, their equipment, the training, they would do something dramatic. They know darn well if that was someone that the US didn’t agree with they would take steps. So far they haven’t taken steps. Nuland was in Kiev, [then] in Russia. Any time a major US official has gone to the region, some attack has happened afterward - remember the head of the CIA [John Brennan] was there a couple of times and attacks immediately followed. This just seems to be another of those patterns.

RT: The Ukrainian president also claims Russia is increasing its military presence, but Moscow says there is no proof of that. What is the basis for these accusations?

DM: If that’s the case then I’d like to see the video. I’ve seen the video of US-made Humvees travelling toward Eastern Ukraine. I have not seen the video of Russian weapons and Russian soldiers travelling into Ukraine from Russia. If I saw that I might be more inclined to believe it. I think that’s naïve to think that Russia doesn’t have a concern with what’s happening next door as the US would frankly have if something similar was happening in Mexico or in Canada. But thus far all we’ve heard are accusations; we’ve seen no proof from the US, NATO and the Ukrainian side.

RT: This is the first civilian casualty in weeks. Do you think this could be the beginning of the end of the ceasefire that's been holding for 3 months?

DM: Let’s hope not; let’s hope that I’m wrong and that the US’s putting Ukraine on more of a leash if that’s the case. We did buy this government. Victoria Nuland herself purchased this government. We know exactly who she wanted in power. And those people are in power. However, once again I think it would be naïve to assume that the US is backed off. We are in the middle of what could be another color revolution in Macedonia probably to thwart the Turkish Stream pipeline. So the idea that the US suddenly realizes that its interventions have caused disasters I think is way too Pollyannaish. I think it would take a lot more than that if at all to back off.