“Kostya Farkovets, a 40-year-old Ukrainian who lives in the eastern city of Gorlovka with his wife and three boys, told me that life is “turning pretty lousy” in his town and in nearby Donetsk. “Some pro-Russian radicals have mounted the Russian flag on top of the governor’s building yesterday instead of Ukraine’s national flag. Here in Gorlovka, the Russian flag is sitting right next to Ukraine’s flag over our city council building.”

Just as Ukraine’s months-long protests came to the end and lawmakers began crafting a new government and plans for painful reforms, Russia stepped in. On Feb. 28, unidentified armed men blockaded two airports in Ukraine’s southern resort destination of Crimea. By March 2, Russian troops had control of the entire peninsula, with reports of 16,000 soldiers in the region.

The semi-autonomous region of Crimea is home to the Russian Black Sea Naval Fleet, and ethnic Russians comprise a little more than half of the population. One quarter are ethnic Ukrainians and the rest are Ukrainian Tatars (who became staunchly anti-Russian after being deported by Stalin in 1944). The parliament in Moscow gave Russian President Vladimir Putin permission to use military force in Crimea to defend Russian nationals and interests against what they claim are threats from the new regime in Kiev. “This is not a threat. This is actually the declaration of war to my country,” said interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

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