Kiev's Western-backed government has already admitted its security forces are "helpless" to halt the rebellion it blames on Moscow from spreading across more than a dozen eastern towns and cities. It has ordered out a Russian diplomat nabbed
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
for espionage, risking a tit-for-tat response from Russia.
As fears mounted of the ex-Soviet republic disintegrating, Germany stepped up its appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth and sixth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...to help free seven OSCE inspectors held in the town of Slavyansk by the rebels -- four Germans, a Pole, a Dane and a Czech.
In Donetsk, a mob of around 300 pro-Russian forces of Evil throwing Molotov cocktails and bricks stormed the prosecutor's office, beating up outnumbered riot police and stealing their arms and shields while yelling "fascists!"
Once inside, they smashed doors and carried off official photos and Ukrainian national symbols to be burned. The forces of Evil already held the regional administration building and the city hall in Donetsk.
The assault occurred while 10,000 people in the city marched in opposition to the Kiev government and in favour of closer ties to Russia. The rally evolved from a traditional International Labour Day march.
In Moscow, the same event turned into a sort of victory parade for Putin and his policies in Ukraine, with 100,000 workers filling Red Square for the first time since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union, waving patriotic slogans and praising the president.
By contrast, the Labour Day march in Kiev was dispirited and meagre, attended by a mere 2,000 people. "Why do others quietly steal our land? Why does Russia do it, as well as the Ukrainian oligarchs? I am not against Russia, I don't care about what authority will be here, but they should give us a normal life," said one participant, a 51-year-old unemployed woman who gave her name as Zhanna.