Putin seizes Ukraine, but loses Ukrainians

Portraits of President Vladimir Putin in the Ukrainian capital? Plenty -- but they're printed on toilet paper.
The Kremlin leader's stern features stare from novelty rolls sold for USD 1.5 dollars in Kiev gift shops. He appears on T-shirts emblazoned with an obscene slogan. He's on doormats.
"He's popular," jokes Svitlana Khotumsova, 25, who runs a small shop under Maidan Square, epicentre of Ukraine's pro-Western street revolts.
That the Russian leader should be loathed in Ukraine -- where he sent troops to annex Crimea in March and supports a separatist rebellion in another region -- might not be surprising.
But hatred for Putin is only the thin end of a very big wedge driving Ukraine in a historic, perhaps irrevocable, break from its neighbour.

Putin hoped to keep Ukraine in Russia's orbit, but triggered the opposite, Ukrainians say -- a patriotic movement that has transformed the way they see themselves forever.

"It's the one good thing Putin has done for Ukraine," philosopher Myroslav Popovych told AFP.
Ties between Russia and Ukraine have been under strain since the 2004 pro-Western street uprising dubbed the Orange Revolution. But today's war, in which at least 4,000 people have been reported killed, would have been considered impossible less than a year ago.
The two countries don't just share 1,944 km border, or -- until the crisis -- well integrated economies.

They have closely related languages, a majority of their populations adhering to Orthodox Christianity, and cultural similarities that go far beyond enthusiasm for vodka.
In fact, as the location of Kieven Rus, an ancient state that introduced Christianity to the region, these lands on the eastern fringe of Europe were the cradle of both modern Ukraine and Russia.