We mentioned yesterday that opposing groups in Ukraine looked like they were headed toward a truce, hopes for that crumble yesterday, and violence got worse between protestors and police. The protestors say police had snipers firing at them, and that 100 people had been killed. The government is not saying how many were killed, but it says demonstrators were kidnapping police officers. This all goes back to the Ukrainian president’s decision last year to sign a trade deal with Russia. It would help Ukraine’s economy. But some Ukrainians want a deal with European Union instead and the divisions deepened. 

 

We have to look at where Ukraine is located, because this really is a historical divider between Russia and the west Europe. Right, Max?

Yes historians think the country’s name actually means border line, so the sense of being in between is really bid in Ukraine’s identity.

That is only about 900 miles driving down the Sochi where the Winter Olympic is going on right now. Let’s talk about the make up of this country now.

 

Yes, about the size of Texas and it is  45 million people. So it’s big.

 

Ok. Now why did all of this large? It really goes back to something that happened in November with European Union. 

 

Yes. Ukraine was considering a deal for greater economic integration with European Union and a lot of Ukrainians like this because they thought this was a good deal. They liked the idea of being part of Europe. But they did not get that. 

They got a different deal indeed. What happened?

 

So what happened is Ukraine surprised everybody by taking a deal with Russia instead, for about 15 billion dollars in bonds and cheaper natural gas. 

 

And so those who oppose, who wanted the European Union deal vented their intention even more also on the president.

 

Yes, president Victo who have been seen by a lot of Ukrainians as corruptive, he has been ousted in 2004 previously. He seems has very close relationship with Russia in the name of language. So when he took this deal people thought, wow, he is so bringing our country to Moscow. 

In many ways, when this comes down to is a historical division. This has always has been two countries in one space and now that is coming to the head. 

 

Yes, that’s right. If you look at this map, this purple western half, this actually mostly speak Ukrainian. That’s where Kiev is, and that’s where most of the protestors are.  In eastern half, people mostly speak Russian. That’s where ? is form.  People are a little more fancier about their old ties with Russia. So what you are seeing paly out is this identity crisis Ukrainian’s had since its independence. Are we European country or are we facing more ties with Russia?

 

Of course there was a big poll from both sides from the Europeans and from the united states, another saying it needs to be freed form the other one. And form the Russian side because in their mind, this was the region that was their part of Soviet union that produce one quarter of the country’s agriculture products. It is a huge trading partner for Russia. 

 

Parents, brothers, children, sisters, divided for more than 60 years. It is like they have lived in one step away from each other, but the line has separated them. It is between north and south Korea, countries whose governments have been on odds since the Korean War and people are not able to travel freely between them. Reunions between dozens of south and north Koreans are going ahead even though North Korea had threatened to cancel them earlier this month. 

 

Kin-sung Yu is 96 years old, the oldest person of this reunion. Her father and she worked 100 miles from north to South Korea at the start of the Korean War. Her sister was too young to join her. They are finally reunited more than 60 years later. These reunions are so rare, and these picks so lively, even illness could not keep them away. 

 

90 year old Kim-sung Pong was transported in an ambulance and attended the reunion hooked up to an IV strip, determined that the bad flu is not ruining the only chance to see his son and daughter. 

 

CNN reporter quote him say, “Even if I die now, if I have seen my family I would die in peace. “

 

Every single story is heartbroken and starts to remind her of the pain of people divided. The Korean War ended in stalemate in 1953. Without any regular forms of communications between the two Koreas, families have gone decades without contact, even these contact was monitored. North Korean officials stood by every table, listening to every conversation.  Her son, the overwhelming emotion has simply been too much. Tens of thousands of Koreans have been a part of this reunion, those who will have been picked already had disappointment last December when the meeting was canceled at the last minute.