UKRAINE:THE WAR, RAILROAD BLOCKADE AND MONEY

More than six weeks, groups of armed, former Ukrainian soldiers and members of nationalist political parties have blocked rail lines. The Ukrainian government has condemned the action, which has stopped trains from transporting coal and other industrial goods. The blockade has cut off vital links between industrial plants on either side of the conflict's frontline and is greatly damaging Ukraine's economy. The protesters, who now number a few hundred, are calling the economic relationships that straddle the front line a trade in blood, accusing corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs of effectively subsidizing the separatist economy and allowing the war to continue.