Ukraine-O-Vision.

As I've mentioned the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest is currently taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark where it is in danger of being overshadowed by events in Ukraine.

This presents me with a problem because if I were to cover events in Ukraine during the competition I would have to provide complete coverage not only analysing every single event but also every single rumour about events on the ground. I simply do not have the time and resources to do this. In part this is because the situation is so fast moving and constantly changing but also because now the story is about the Kiev government killing people that disagree with it the media here in the UK have very much lost interest in a story that doesn't fit into their pre-determined narrative. However it is quite clear that Kiev's offensive against the east is proving to be far from decisive with control of areas swinging back and forth between pro-Kiev and anti-Kiev forces on an almost hour by hour basis.

One very big development though came yesterday (7/5/14) when Russian President Vladimir Putin called on opponents of the Kiev government to abandon their plans for a federalisation referendum on Sunday (11/5/14). The calculation behind this is that the true objective of Kiev's offensive is not to re-assert it's control over the Donbass region but to create such disruption and a climate of fear and intimidation that it would be impossible for that vote to take place denying people the opportunity of democratically showing that they do not agree with the Kiev government. The hope being that if the referendum was abandoned voluntarily the Kiev government would have no incentive to continue the offensive so further loss of life could be avoided.

Unfortunately though today the Kiev government - keen to avoid have its true motivation exposed - announced that it would continue military operations regardless of whether or not the referendum went ahead. As a result opponents of the Kiev government have decided that the referendum will go ahead as planned as far as is possible while fighting continues.

(Originally Posted) 11:45 on 8/5/14 (UK date).