>>As the OP account was used for such mesgs and not for vfp or dotnet questions mainly the source is somewhat suspect ;-)
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>I have no suspicion that the OP thinks UT is an important venue where to vent frustration or spread PR of the day.
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>I see the magnificent silence on the across-the-puddle members' part regarding this issue, which is probably good. I slightly wish they'd venture to say anything, just to see how thick is that iron curtain of "independent" media and whether there's at least one soloist in the orchestra, which I doubt.
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>On the local forum here there's a topic on this which is still below a thousand messages, and I guess there are several experts participating, and many more are knowledgeable in the languages (mostly english and russian, but then ukrainian is not that hard for us), plus there are a few who have either been there, or have a friend who rode a truck through there recently, or have friends there online... so we have the benefit of seeing the issue from many sides from day one.
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>You can imagine there are about twenty different opinions on the subject in regular circulation, from brownnosing Nato to Russia-always-knows-what-to-do. The only thing everyone agrees is that EU would need to invest extraordinary effort to commit more blunders than this, and that the US are clueless except in doing exactly the wrong thing at any time.
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>Fingers crossed that the peak is over.

Over here the media's general take is Ukraine under Yanukovich was both a satrapy and a kleptocracy. Since he was overthrown there is a power vacuum, neither Tymoshenko nor Klitschko are viewed as head of state material.

One discussion of the Ukraine since 1991 is at http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/09/underachiever-ukraine-s-economy-since-1991/a1nf?reloadFlag=1

Russia fears losing its only significant warm-water naval base at Sevastopol and as a result has taken de facto control of the Crimean Peninsula. They are also ratcheting up both military and economic threats against the country as a whole.

My understanding is Ukrainians are the majority in all parts of the country except Crimea. Disregarding "protests" in the "Russian" south/east, I have not seen any evidence of counter-revolutionary activity, the deposing of Yanukovich seems to have widespread popular support.

The overall impression is that Ukrainian people want to transition to a (more) Western-style democracy. Russia in general and Putin in particular doesn't want to lose its satrapy. "The West" wants to help "democratic reform".

How does that compare to your take, as someone within easy ballistic missile range?