In this report, the moderators introduced a series of clips,commenting that the situation is seriously bad around Ukraine right now.
- John Kerry gives a real impression that he's looking for more escalation with Russia over Ukraine.
- Putin gives a statement threatening unspecified action if Ukraine uses its army to suppress its people.
- Arseny Yatseniuk, Ukrainian Prime Minister says that Russia is looking to start the Third World War.
- French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says that France and Germany are seeking to lower the tension there.
- German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeyer takes a similarly balanced approach calling on all those party to the recent Geneva Agreement to give it a chance to work, emphasizing the commitment not to use violence and the disarming of illegal paramilitaries, surrender of occupied buildings and amnesty for protesters.
- Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the "self-proclaimed Mayor of Slaviansk," saying that Yaseniuk's pro-Western government is preparing to cut off his city to undertake ethnic cleansing (presumably directed against Russian-speakers).
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu complains that planned NATO manuevers in the eastern part of the alliance weren't "contributing to the normalization of the situation."
- Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky demands the Russians reveal how many troops they have stationed near Ukraine.
The commentators mainly commented that the situation was complicated, that accusations of aggression and abuses were coming from both sides of the conflict inside Ukraine, and that escalation is under way.
The PBS Newshour report on the situation in What can history tell us about today's unrest in Ukraine? 04/27/2014:
This is a background piece on the history of Ukraine.
Tags: ukraine
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