An excerpt from Ukraine's Donbas Is Like America's Deep South by Alexandeer Motyl in The Huffington Post:
Many journalistic accounts -- as well as the Kremlin's propaganda machine -- depict the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine's separatist Donbas region and the Crimea as an aggrieved ethnic minority clamoring for nothing more than greater autonomy and cultural and language rights.
Seen in this light, Kiev and ethnic Ukrainians are the victimizers. The Donbas and its Russians are the victims. To put the conflict in American terms, Kiev is white America and the Russian-speaking regions are black America.
The analogy is completely false.
Read the entire article here.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Two Canadian ships carrying nonlethal aid for Ukraine's military are due to dock at the port in Odesa on January 6.
Ukrainian presidential aide Yuriy Biryukov announced the impending arrival of the two Canadian vessels on January 5.
Biryukov said the military aid -- mainly winter uniforms and boots -- would be received by volunteer agencies in Odesa and distributed to troops fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Biryukov said another shipment of nonlethal aid from Canada was due to arrive later this month, between January 14 and 16.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said on January 5 his country had handed over military materials to Ukraine, without specifying what kind of material.
Olekas quoted Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as saying the aid was "elements of armaments."
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Thirteen Ukrainian National Guardsmen have been killed in a road accident in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities said most of the deaths occurred were killed when a military truck and a bus collided in the Donetsk region late on January 5 in bad weather.
One of about 12 soldiers hospitalized after the accident died early on January 6.
The guardsmen were being rotated to the front in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and have support from Moscow.
More than 4,700 combatants and civilians have been killed in the conflict since April.
Fighting persists despite a September 5 agreement on a cease-fire and steps toward peace.
This is just breaking.
Good morning. Here's our latest news wrap on the lead Ukraine story today.
Kyiv's representative to four-nation talks on Ukraine in Berlin on January 5 has said there will be a meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France in the Kazakh capital Astana on January 9.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Before we go, we'll leave you with this update from our news desk. Don't forget that you can keep up with all our ongoing Ukraine coverage here.
Ukraine's representative to the "Normandy format" talks in Berlin on January 5 has said there will be a meeting of the group's foreign ministers in the Kazakh capital Astana on January 9.
Oleksiy Makeyev, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's department of politics and communications, announced the January 9 meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany on his Twitter account late on January 5.
Makeyev headed the Ukrainian delegation at the talks in Berlin.
Makeyev also wrote on his Twitter account that it was possible a "general agreement" could be signed at the Astana meeting.
Makeyev told a Ukrainian television station that there was also a possibility of a meeting in Kyiv of officials from Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and representatives from eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are currently under the control of pro-Russian separatists.