Sunday, April 13, 2014

Recent Events in Ukraine

In addition to Crimea it looks like the Russians are intent on detaching Ukraine's eastern oblasts from rule by Kyiv. There has been a steady assault by armed men on regional government buildings in this region. At the same time there has been almost no military response by the Ukrainian government to these provocations. The Russian military successfully annexed Crimea with very little difficulty. It appears that it may be able to repeat this experience with some of Ukraine's eastern oblasts, most notably Donetsk. I don't know what the military capabilities of Ukraine are as far as being able to resist the Russian seizure of its territory. But, both Kyiv and outside powers so far have been rather passive in the face of a sustained campaign by Russia to significantly reduce the amount of territory controlled by the Ukrainian state. As it currently stands it looks very likely that Donetsk Oblast will be detached from Ukraine just as happened to Crimea.

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