Clashes Intensify in Eastern Ukraine

• Pro-Russia forces shot down 2 Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters and damaged 1 Mi-8 earlier today in the Donetsk Oblast, killing 2 servicemen in the process, according to Ukraine’s ministry of defense. There are also clashes in Odessa. Beyond that, there’s a certain degree of confusion about what is really going on.

• Russia’s alternate reality portrayal: Ukrainian special forces have started a punitive operation in the city of Sloviansk.

• To be fair, even the pro-government / pro-Western KyivPost acknowledges that there are genuine grassroots protesters in eastern Ukraine, not just pro-Russian operatives. For Ukraine, it looks like death by a thousand cuts.

• Tit for tat between Russia, Ukraine and NATO European countries prominently features gas supplies to and through Ukraine. One tool Europe can use is the reversal of pipeline flows to send some of their Russian-procured gas back to Ukraine, but Russia is threatening legal action against such measures.

• President Obama and Chancellor Merkel are responding with a united show of resolute weakness.