As the drums of war beat louder a strange lull has descended on Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas. In the regional capital Donetsk, offices are open, workmen mow the grass in the park and by the city’s main war memorial a man repaints the words “For the motherland” on a second world war tank. But meanwhile in Kyiv Joe Biden, the American vice president, pledged support and $58 million of aid to the Ukrainian government, while Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, ramped up the rhetoric against it.
Economist: In the eye of the storm
Ukrainian soldiers march in the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast before Kremlin-backed militants and insurgents block their path on April 16.
