A calma antes da tempestade: Ucrania prepara-se à batalha final, Kiev vs Sul pró-russo.
The announcement that a referendum on autonomy will go ahead despite Vladimir Putin's call for a delay came at a press conference held by Denis Pushilin, the head of the "People's Republic of Donetsk" in a government building occupied by separatists and ringed by barricades, barbed wire and masked gunmen. It was packed by the international media, with a large crowd waiting outside to hear the news.
Three and half hours later Serhiy Taruta, the governor of Donetsk Oblast, gave his own press conference in the opulent surroundings of Donbass Palace hotel to condemn the referendum as “illegitimate, divisive and dangerous”. A small group of local journalists turned up; security was virtually non-existent, no pro-Russian protesters bothered to turn up to target the oligarch sent by Kiev to run the region. Whatever happens with the 11 May vote, the fact remains that the reach of Ukraine's caretaker government is becoming irrelevant in parts of the Donbass, with key aspects of administration and law and order wilting in the turbulence of the last few months. There is a boosted military operation which has led to deaths, damage and checkpoint on roads, but has failed to restore Kiev's fading political authority.
