Natalia Antonova has written a thought-provoking op-ed piece for "The Moscow Times" on the plight of civilians living in the Ukraine conflict zone, who have often been overlooked of late:
..[D]espite the pain of Kiev's residents, civilians in eastern Ukraine have emerged as the most vulnerable parties in the entire horrid mess that is the Ukraine crisis so far.
It is sad and telling that the new Ukrainian government was said to have put together an aid convoy for the Donbass region only after the Russians had done the same. It makes Kiev's move seem like a PR stunt and brings home the fact that civilians in eastern Ukraine have apparently been largely off-the-radar as far as the authorities are concerned.
The bickering over the convoy drives home the point, though, that what we're seeing in Ukraine right now is not just a local conflict involving some international players. It is also a vicious cycle being simultaneously experienced by two societies — both Russian and Ukrainian — that are growing inured to the idea of destruction and death on their doorstep.
And the less sympathy and support that eastern residents get from Kiev, the less they are going to care about the whole notion of a sovereign Ukraine.
Read the entire article here
Kiev has dropped significantly in the Economist Intelligence Unit's livability survey - http://t.co/Y47Y10qfgT
— Nikolaus von Twickel (@niktwick) August 19, 2014
In Russian Far East officials plan to harvest local reindeer to replace US meat imports, @MoscowTimes reports. Gulp http://t.co/zA46p3pfFh
— Courtney Weaver (@courtneymoscow) August 19, 2014
Ukrainian soldiers in a trench near the eastern Ukrainian city of Shchastya pic.twitter.com/CO0j5yydlT
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) August 19, 2014
Here's an update from our news desk on the fighting in the east of the country:
Ukraine says government forces today were fighting pro-Russian separatists within Luhansk, one of two rebel-held cities in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, officials in Kyiv said government forces tightened their encirclement of Donetsk by capturing another town near that rebel-held stronghold.
Kyiv says nearby fighting today halted efforts to recover the bodies of civilians they say were killed by separatists while fleeing Luhansk on August 18.
The government says it found the bodies of 15 civilians.
Pro-Russian separatists deny carrying out the attack, calling it "blatant propaganda."
In Moscow, meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross have agreed to take "in the coming hours active measures" to resolve the status of a large convoy of trucks that Moscow says is carrying humanitarian aid destined for eastern Ukraine.
(Reuters, AP, Interfax)
Interesting if true-video claims "DNR" building artillery trench here & residents forced them out https://t.co/7r0K6mRkd5 via @EuromaidanPR
— Glenn Kates (@gkates) August 19, 2014
Ukrainian soldiers are reinforcing their positions in areas recently reclaimed from pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. With the help of high-tech gadgetry and brute force, government officers claim they have the upper hand. But as VOA's Gabe Joselow reports, outright victory for Kyiv's army will not be easy.
