Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko sends defiant message to pro-Russian separatists, but he reigns over a divided empire


Petro Poroshenko was in Mariupol on Monday declaring its people were the leaders in fighting separatist aggression; at the same time a rally was taking place in Donetsk celebrating victory against “fascist” aggression.

A tale of two cities just 63 miles from each other: but a world apart on what the future should hold for Ukraine. President Poroshenko was keen to stress that his government had negotiated the release in the past four days of 1,200 prisoners who had been held by the rebels. The number of attacks by them had also fallen, he pointed out, although he added that the enemy had begun shelling checkpoints on the outskirts after finding out that he intended to visit. “They thought they would frighten me, but no one is afraid of them,” he tweeted .... http://www.independent.co.uk