drive-by planet: Ethnic cleansing in east Ukraine? – toll of killed and displaced civilians continues to mount

The end of Kiev’s so-called “ceasefire” has seen intensified artillery shelling and airstrikes in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. During the ceasefire-that-wasn’t the Ukrainian military continued with its operations in a number of key areas… breaches that gave the lie to Poroshenko’s ceasefire masquerade. A number of Western media outlets

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drive-by planet: The contradiction between Poroshenko’s peace plan and Kiev’s actions… rhetoric

 Top: Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma, OSCE’s Heidi Tagliavini  and Russian ambassador Mikhail Zurabov in talks with separatist leaders Beneath: Alex Borodai and fighters Kiev’s recently declared ceasefire was initially rejected by pro-Russian separatists, in part because it was unilaterally declared by Kiev without prior negotiation. Separatist leaders have since

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drive-by planet: Oligarch Pyotr "Chocolate King" Poroshenko wins big in Ukraine’s low turn-out election: change to disbelieve in

The presidential election in Ukraine was held on the same date as elections to the European parliament that resulted in an unprecedented showing by anti-immigration Euro-skeptic parties. The Ukraine election held in the midst of conflict and poll boycotts saw EU-friendly billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko – aka the “Chocolate King” –

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