NEWSWATCH: In Ukraine’s Donetsk, the ‘death clutch’ of a forgotten war: Both Russian and Ukrainian economies in tatters, half a million people displaced
[“In Ukraine’s Donetsk, the ‘death clutch’ of a forgotten war: Both Russian and Ukrainian economies in tatters, half a million people displaced” – CBC.ca – Don Murray – January 5, 2015]
The CBC and free-lance reporter Don Murray examine the conflict in Ukraine, some of its underlying issues and its human costs:
* * * Tens of thousands more Ukrainians are still trapped in a lower circle of hell.
* * * … Donetsk … barely breathes. Shops have closed, banks have no money, most of the young have fled. The city of 900,000 has seen an estimated 200,000 people flee.
Many of those who remain are old or care for older relatives. * * * … pensions are not paid, and people must depend on charity. Even Alexander Zakharchenko, the self-declared prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, admits that some pensioners have starved to death as winter deepens.
* * * the result of the war, along with the annexation of Crimea, which triggered Western sanctions, has been to wreak economic havoc on both Ukraine and Russia.
