Dark clouds are overshadowing eastern Ukraine: Kiev is asking UN’s help to end the crisis, the Russian-speaking separatists continue to occupy government buildings in ten cities of Eastern Ukraine while urging Moscow to support them, the leaders of Russia and the U.S. are throwing the blame on each other and the international community is pinning its hopes to prevent further escalation on the quadripartite meeting in Geneva on Thursday.

Officials from EU, Russia, USA and Ukraine will sit at the same table in order to find the right balance that will calm the spirits in Eastern Ukraine. For his part, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, was quick to stress that Moscow does not want to destabilize Ukraine and that it didn’t play any part in the occupation of buildings by Russian-speaking separatists. He also emphasized that the outcome of the meeting in Geneva will depend on the attitude of the government of Kiev.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin urging Barack Obama to use his influence to prevent bloodshed in Ukraine and the U.S. President asking his Russian counterpart to help calm the spirits, Russia and the U.S. are passing between them the buck of responsibility. White House announced that the head of the CIA, John Brennan, will travel to Kiev next weekend. Furthermore, the government in Washington leaves open the possibility of providing weapons to the Ukrainian forces.

Eastern Ukraine remains in turmoil as the Russian-speaking separatists continue to occupy government buildings demanding a solution like the one in Crimea and Ukrainian police is ready for action. Regarding the demands for a “Crimea style” referendum, acting president of Ukraine, Alexander Tourtsinov extended an olive branch yesterday to Russian-speaking separatists, stating that he does not object to a referendum being conducted along with the presidential elections (May 25) but expressed certainty that the majority would vote “in favor of a united Ukraine”.

Last night, hundreds of people marched in the Ukrainian capital demanding strong action to be taken against the pro-Russian military in the eastern part of Ukraine, and also the resignation of Interior Minister of the country, Arsen Avakof .

According to the Ukrainian news agency Interfax and the electronic version of the newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda”, protesters set fire to tires and chanted slogans such as “Avakov resign”! A few hours after the expiration of the ultimatum to pro-Russian separatists, the government in Kiev announced that it starts a “large-scale anti-terrorist operation” against the separatists.