{img |size=001 |align=centre}A year after Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula by force and subsequently annexed it, Rebecca Harms visited Kiev, Charkiw, Slawjansk and Artemiwsk. After her return, she finds it difficult to sum up her impressions. The mourning for the sniper victims on the Maidan, the memories of Yanukowich fleeing and of a new beginning being made in the Verkhovna Rada, are being diluted by more bad news coming in from the east of the country four days after the official starting date of the ceasefire. The conflicting reports on the citizens and Ukrainian soldiers surrounded in Debaltseve are the subject of virtually every conversation. It is hard to be optimistic.
