A quick define of “ lay siege to”
"The act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible"
The siege began, as mentioned, in this post from 3 days agoUkraine: Poroshenko breaks Minsk treaty. Revoking autonomy laws and moving troopsQuoting-
“If Ukraine saw the solving of this issue in peaceful terms Poroshenko would NOT revoke the autonomy granted, that was agreed to as part of the truce agreement. I will say this again.Poroshenko has broke the truce by bombing the separatists areas and is taking it further by revoking the autonomy laws passed thereby breaking the truce agreement. So, when this is spun in western media as the rebels breaching the truce agreement you all are already aware that is spin. Nonsense”
Additionally, as was pointed out in that post, Kiev is sending reinforcementsHeadline Japan Today-Ukraine moves to cut off separatist zoneJapan Today is spinning this as if Kiev is creating a border and acknowledging the autonomous areas as,well, autonomous. “Effectively acknowledging the breaking away of the separatist zone” That is not what Kiev is doing!-“Ukraine’s border guards service said anyone crossing in or out of rebel areas will now have to present a passport. -Foreigners will “be sent to filtration points to determine the purpose of their visit” and will have to show a visa, a statement said.-The rule was explained as a security measure to seal off the eastern conflict areas”Sealing off the conflict areas? Certainly not suggestive of acceptance & peaceful resolution.More likely this implies Kiev is going to attempt to control movement around, into and out of the autonomous area- This tells me that Kiev is looking to shoot fish in a barrel. -Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday that subsidies and social payments, including pensions, would be halted to rebel-controled areas.How Japan Today can spin this as acceptance of separation is beyond me. Pensions earned would be payable no matter where one is resident. So if Yats is cutting off payments he is attempting to starve the people of the East.When one reads a bit further down into the Japan Today article- the truth becomes much more clear-a claim by a rebel commander—of an assault by Ukrainian tanks against separatists in Yasynuvata, a small town near DonetskDiscounted by an AP reporter who claims there are ‘no signs of fighting’ but that does not make clear whether or not there had BEEN an assault. So, that AP reporter account is worthless.-Officials said the passport regime will apply to the area of what the government calls the “anti-terrorist operation,” but did not specify the exact outlines of the zone.-Sergiy Astakhov, an aide to the border guard chief, said the measure did not mean Kiev was giving up on recovering the separatist area.-“This is Ukrainian territory, but given that militants are temporarily controlling it, we have to carry out the necessary checks,” Astakhov said.Doesn’t sound anything like acceptance to me