So I was just about to upload this video when there was a crucial bit of information that
broke about what's going on in Ukraine, so stick around until the end, that's got the
latest information.
So recently, this is what the Ukrainian President Olexsander Turchynov said about the unrest
in the east of his country.
"The blood of Ukrainian heroes has been shed in a war which the Russian Federation is waging
in Ukraine."
And he went on to promise a huge counter-terrorism operation against the pro-Russian groups who
have been seen storming police headquarters and other government buildings across the
east.
The Ukrainian government has been claiming that the protests in the east are manufactured
by the Russians and says they do not represent the view of the locals.
The US and its allies in the EU have backed up that claim that the Russians are to blame
for all the uprisings and they've promised evidence by the end of the week.
And Barack Obama's told Vladimir Putin that he needs to rein in the separatists with the
EU threatening further sanctions against Russia.
Alongside all this we've seen footage of tanks being sent east by the government in Ukraine
and Russia has responded by calling it a violation of international law and warned that the situation
will spiral into a civil war.
So it's all getting very, very complicated and messy.
The protesters, depending on who you believe, are Russians stirring up anti-Ukrainian sentiment
in the east and creating a separatist movement.
Either that or they're simply people who consider themselves Russian, speak Russian as their
mother tongue and want autonomy or to join the Russian Federation.
So here are the arguments.
A lot of the groups who have been turning up to take over the government buildings do
look a little bit, you know, like the army.
They've got matching uniforms, although they carry no insignias, and they've got big Russian
made guns and they look like they're prepared to use them and that they know how to.
And it's pretty difficult to get a little paramilitary group organised in such a short
space of time.
Not that I've ever tried.
Journalists on the scene have reported seeing these groups arrive by the busload and people
giving and taking orders and looking a lot like they might be special forces.
Then you've got the build up of 40,000 Russian troops on the borders of eastern Ukraine,
so it does make it look a little like they're getting ready for some sort of involvement
there.
But what about the other side?
Russia keeps on telling us that these are homegrown protests and that Russia will protect
those protesters from Western and Ukrainian aggression.
And just like with the footage of the military uniforms, you can find footage that backs
up the Russian side too.
Like this video, which we're calling Tank versus Lada, where a group of pro-Russians,
and a Lada, confront a Ukrainian tank being sent towards the east.
The people seen in the footage appear to be unarmed and they appear to be civilians.
They plead with the tank crew to stop the vehicle and ask them who they're going to
shoot.
They beg them to turn around and not to inflame the situation in the east.
Now that all seemed very amicable and we should point out that we don't know what happened
to the tank once the video stopped, whether it decided to turn around or follow orders
and carry on regardless.
And Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, isn't convinced either.
He says that he believes there is a genuine homegrown upsurge of resentment at the western
Ukraine dominance.
He reckons that the Russians are inciting that movement but that a lot of it is spontaneous,
popular anger..
And that doesn't help the Western narrative.
He also told the Today Programme that there would be nothing worse than a civil war on
its borders and that they don't want disorder in eastern Ukraine.
So when you look at both sides it looks like, yes, that Russia could well be inciting people
to rise up against the Kiev government.
But even if that is the case, a great deal of the popular uprisings, are just that, popular
uprisings, against a government that people do not feel will represent them or have their
best interests at heart.
So the Western accusation, that Russia is deliberately trying to cause unrest, even
conspiring to force Ukraine towards civil war and end up annexing parts of eastern Ukraine,
well it's difficult to make that one stick.
So how about this as a proposal - instead of our politicians, on all sides, throwing
accusations at each other, shouting at each other, placing economic sanctions on each
other and basically trying to prove who's got the biggest testicles, while we're all
sliding towards a geopolitical crisis, how about they get around the negotiating table?
How about at least trying to come up with a solution that allays some of those fears
on all sides?
And if they do do that, isn't there a better chance of avoiding the civil war that they're
warning about in the first place?
So I was just about to upload this video when we got some breaking news about what's going
on in Ukraine and it's kind of vital to this video so here's a little bit extra.
The news is that some Ukrainian troops have seized an airfield in the eastern city of
Kramatorsk and during that operation a number of people have been killed and injured.
According to reports from the scene Ukrainian troops came to the military airfield in armoured
personnel carriers and there have also been videos uploaded to YouTube of Ukrainian jets
flying above the base at the same time.
The members of the pro-Russian militia who had taken the airbase in the first place have
now blocked the entrance to Kramatorsk city and say that they're ready to defend it.
So it's not really looking very good, is it?