IsThe Ukraine Civil War About To Spread To Its Second Largest City?

BBC

Seven Recent Blasts In Ukraine City Stir Fear Of New Russian Menace -- L.A. Times

At least seven bomb blasts in little more than a month in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, have stirred fears among residents and the government in Kiev that Russia-backed rebels are trying to destabilize the militarily strategic region.

International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have examined the areas of attack and noted rising tensions in the city in their daily reports on unrest in eastern Ukraine.

In the most destructive of the blasts, which Kharkiv regional prosecutors are investigating as an act of terrorism, 11 people were wounded when a bomb went off in the popular Stina rock pub in the city center Nov. 9.

In addition to the bombing at the pub, which had been active in raising money for Ukrainian forces battling pro-Russia separatists in two neighboring eastern Ukrainian regions, the targets have included a hospital for security forces, a military recruiting center and a national guard base where Dutch investigators were probing the wreckage of the July 17 Malaysia Airlines disaster.

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My Comment: I have an aunt who lives in Kharkiv .... and we are always in communication with her. But as she told us during this past weekend .... the Ukrainian military and police presence is everywhere, Russians are being routinely rounded up, and tensions have been "sky-high" in the city for the past few weeks. She and her husband are determined to stay, but her children (my cousins) fled a few months ago .... and as one told me last week, there is no employment, they are always being targeted by the security forces at checkpoints, and for the moment they have no interest in returning to the city. To say that he is angry and bitter is an understatement.