Ukrainian National Unity: An Opportunity Lost

... pro-Russian protesters, seeking their own referendums to join Russia, seized regional government buildings in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv.[vii] The separatists in Kharkiv were quickly subdued. The self-declared People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk have thus far managed to endure. However, unlike in Crimea, Russia has been unwilling to accept their appeals for annexation. The response of the new Ukrainian government has been significantly more forceful than their grudging surrender in the Crimean Peninsula. The “anti-terrorist operation” ...