The World and Ukraine

What are the prospects for a peaceful future?

Natalia Rudnichenko

Now the world is glancing at Ukraine – and from abroad sometimes it is very difficult to understand what is going on in my country. It so happened that the writing of this article coincided with my press trip to western Ukraine. During this time I paid much attention to different regional feelings – yes, it is a different area with different culture, geography and history.

Anyway, I remember a similar observation in my early childhood during the time of the Soviet Union or in the first years post-independence when regional differences were not perceived as problems. Rather these were peculiarities which made Ukraine as a country richer and more interesting for each resident. And then something happened in 2004 while there was a peaceful up-rising and meetings during the presidential election campaign of the Orange revolution when then Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich, representative of the eastern Donetsk region, and