The crisis is now picking up with impressive speed. The Central Elections Commission was due to announce the final results at 1400GMT but they haven’t produced yet. Russian-soldier rumours are increasingly frequent and credible, as are rumours that a run-off election will be held. A heavily-reported story that a military crackdown, either Ukrainian, Russian (false-flag), or Russian (overt) would begin at 1600 seems to be false. The European Union has named Polish president Aleksandr Kwasniewski as its representative in Ukraine. There have also been further signs of the government’s authority eroding – the Commander in Chief of the Navy, for eaxmple, has declared for the opposition.
Blogs, meanwhile, are struggling technically as they did on US election night. (Has anyone else noticed that my two last Ukraine posts were published by Blogger in the wrong order?) Despite the tech farts and 404 errors, though, some are doing wonders. The Periscope with its Ukrainian commenters is putting out a lot of news. Scott Clark, Neeka and some others are reporting from the scene. Clark reports that the “Russians” were identified as such by – ahem – the Russian registration numbers on their transport. Looks like they’re Russians, then. A special-purpose blog has been set up by Ukrainians in London.