Kharkiv was occupied by Russia-backed gunmen in April, but a local uprising deposed them before they could secure control of the city of 1.4 million. Now, the unraveling of joint Ukraine-Russia defense production threatens to deepen the split between Ukrainians loyal to Western-oriented Kiev and those who back continued political alignment with Moscow, the newspaper Los Angeles Times writes.
“Kharkiv is still very shaky. If thousands of people were to suddenly lose their jobs, this would create additional tension,” said Oleksiy Melnyk, Co-director of Foreign Relations and International Security Programmes of the Razumkov Centre. “Russia could take advantage of that situation …read more
Source: Razumkov Centre