Typifying the utterly ineffectual foreign policy that has been endemic for the entirety of the Obama administration, Ukrainian Defense Minister Pavel Lebedev rebuffed U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, refusing to take even one of the phone calls Hagel made to him. 

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby admitted on Thursday, “Secretary Hagel has been trying, himself, since early this week,” adding that Lebedev refuses “to communicate, to accept a phone call” from either Hagel or the Pentagon.

Kirby continued, “We haven’t been able to connect with anybody from the Defense Ministry there in Ukraine. We’ve been trying pretty diligently here in the Pentagon, we’ve been trying pretty diligently this whole week. I’d say it’s pretty unusual.”