Kiev, Ukrainian People Living in Different Universes – Italian Journalist

There is an enormous gap between the Kiev authorities and ordinary Ukrainian people, as if they live in different countries, Luca Ribustini, Italian journalist for Italian daily newspaper Fatto Quotidiano told Sputnik after visiting Kiev and Donbass.

"The government in Kiev is playing the card over the heads of ordinary people who want to live a normal, peaceful life," Ribustini told Sputnik.

He quoted young people from Kiev, who believe that the Ukrainian government has a very specific geopolitical problem and "is engaged in games that have nothing to do with Ukraine and refer to a wider international context".

Ribustini noted that the Euromaidan "has remained a dream, Europe is still very far away, while the war [in Ukraine's southeast] brings new victims."

The Italian correspondent said that when he visited the town of Artyomovsk in Donbass, people living in southeastern Ukraine "got tired of everything and simply want peace, get back to work and to what they used to do before."

He had the impression that Donbass residents feel abandoned by the Kiev government, the journalist added.