Just in time for the holidays, Kiev has limited access to credit cards and bank accounts, and promised to cut off funds for hospitals and schools.

More from The Guardian:

Ukraine’s government has begun cutting off payments and banking services to areas of the country under the control of pro-Russian rebels, in a further sign that Kiev has given up trying to control the territory.

[…] Ukraine’s government has also said it will stop funding social services such as schools and hospitals in areas it does not control.

[…] “What this means in reality is the confiscation of the pensions and benefits of our veterans, pensioners, disabled people and mothers … It is an attempt to end civilised life in the Donbass region,” said the Donetsk People’s Republic in an official statement. “We think there are no legal reasons not to pay money from the budget to people based in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. People living on our territories have the same rights as other citizens of Ukraine.”

Rebels seem to want it both ways, declaring independence from the central government, but demanding continued financial support. Of course it’s ordinary people who suffer as a result of the ongoing feud between Kiev, the breakaway regions of the Donbass, and Moscow.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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