Acclaimed Russian-American author Gary Shteyngart has written a really nice travel piece on the atmosphere that prevails in Ukrainian capital right now. Here's a taster:
Being driven into Kiev, I can tell something is different from my usual jaunts to the former Soviet Union. My cabbie isn’t complaining about Tajiks being lazy, Chechens violent, Jews arrogant, or Georgian youths partying too loudly in this building’s courtyard—the usual racist babble. Although, according to the talk show on the taxi’s radio, there is a lot to complain about. The hryvnia, the local currency, is down 60 percent for the year and inflation is up by 50 percent, the result of the nightmarish Moscow-directed civil war in Donetsk and Luhansk to the east, a conflict that has hit a stalemate by the time of my visit. And, more impressive, almost every single billboard running into the city has been commandeered for the upcoming local elections. It would appear that half of Kiev’s population is running for mayor. There’s the Party of Simple Folks; the Dill Party, which promises “concrete results”; a cartoon rhinoceros who promises “reform”; and the party of the current president, Poroshenko, promising nothing less than “peace.” If I could vote, I’d probably cast it for the “free Wi-Fi” party.
Throughout my stay I will be told how many of the candidates are in the pockets of corrupt oligarchs (et tu, Dill Party?), but the cacophony of democracy is still impressive, louder and more urgent than anything you will find in the European Union, to which Ukraine desperately aspires to belong. After being in Kiev for 40 minutes, I feel oddly safe and free.
Read the entire article here
Our news desk has some info on casualties in the east:
Ukraine Says Three Soldiers Killed, Five Wounded In East
Ukraine says three of its servicemen have been killed and five wounded in the country’s east.
A military spokesman in the eastern region of Luhansk said three soldiers were killed and two wounded when their vehicle hit a mine on the highway between the villages of Novotoshkivske and Hirne on March 1.
A military spokesman in Kyiv said another three government troops were wounded in exchanges of fire over the past 24 hours near the front line separating separatist-held parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions from the rest of Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian troops were wounded as a result of firing in the government-held towns of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, while another soldier was injured in a booby-trap blast near the village of Kamianka.
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 people since April 2014.
The Minsk peace agreement signed a year ago has helped reduce the violence, but skirmishes have continued.
Based on reporting by AFP and UNIAN
Here's some more details from our news desk on the new ethics code for civil servants
Ukrainian Government's New Ethics Code Bans Officials From Criticizing State Authorities
Ukraine has banned government officials from publicly criticizing the work of state institutions and their colleagues.
The rule is part of a new ethics code that civil servants must follow or face disciplinary action, according to a decree posted on the government website on March 1.
The decree says the government decided to introduce standards of ethical conduct for civil servants to "restore public faith in the work of the state bodies and officials."
The move comes after Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government barely survived a no-confidence vote in parliament last month amid growing disenchantment among Ukrainians with the pro-Western government that took power following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
The county is struggling with a deepening recession and continuing violence from Russia-backed separatists in the east.