Geneva and Donetsk are very different cities, and the deal hailed in Switzerland on Thursday night as a breakthrough in Ukraine's crisis was declared dead-on-arrival hours later in this tough industrial city near the Russian border.
"No one talked to us about it," said Denis Pushilin, a local businessman who now leads the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, of an agreement reached between Ukraine, the EU, the US and Russia.
The deal called on illegal armed groups across Ukraine to leave buildings they have occupied and disarm, in what the West hoped would be a key step towards defusing its worst confrontation with Russia since the cold war.
“If we should leave our buildings then everyone should leave their buildings. [Oleksandr] Turchinov and [Arseniy] Yatsenyuk should also leave the buildings they occupied illegally,” said Mr Pushilin, referring to Ukraine’s pro-EU leaders, now ensconced in Kiev’s presidential and government headquarters.
Club-wielding defenders
Addressing the world's media on the 11th floor of Donetsk's regional administration, which is ringed by barricades and club-wielding defenders, Mr Pushilin denounced the "Kiev junta" that ousted Donetsk-born ex-president Viktor Yanukovich in February.
“Kiev is hardly likely to fulfil the [Geneva] deal. Already last night it broke the terms, by refusing to withdraw its forces from Slovyansk and Kramatorsk,” he railed, referring to two other towns in the Donetsk region. “We will continue preparing for our referendum.“
Mr Pushilin and allies plan a region-wide referendum by May 11th on whether the Donetsk People’s Republic should declare independence from Ukraine.
Some of its supporters also want to be asked whether they wish to join Russia, just as Crimea did last month, leading to swift annexation by Moscow.
But Donetsk is not Crimea.
Most people on the Black Sea peninsula wanted to join Russia, and many welcomed the Russian troops who held it under tight control during the referendum.
But Donetsk’s attitude towards its new “republic” and to Moscow is distinctly mixed.
Mr Pushilin’s rule seems to span Donetsk’s occupied regional administration and mayor’s office, but it is not clear if he has any influence over activists – some with firearms – holed up in buildings in other nearby towns.
Life goes on
For most of Donetsk city's one million people and the region's 4.3 million – almost one-tenth of Ukraine's population – life is entirely unaffected by proclamations from what Kiev calls a band of Russian-backed separatists and terrorists.
Indeed, government officials say Mr Pushilin and allies don’t really control anything, and are mere pawns in a Kremlin plan to tear apart Ukraine and prevent it moving decisively out of Moscow’s orbit and integrating with the West.
Kiev insists that it is absurd to suggest that Mr Pushilin and friends could hold a credible plebiscite across this big rustbelt region of mines and factories, where there is a wide range of opinion on which course Ukraine should chart.
Thousands of people rallied here on Thursday for national unity, denouncing separatism and calls to join Russia, and a large swathe of the population would be happy to remain in Ukraine if many powers were devolved from Kiev to the provinces.
The government is seeking to mollify eastern Ukraine by promising special status for the Russian language that dominates the region, and broad decentralisation of power – while rejecting Moscow’s call for federalisation.
Officials believe the Kremlin wants to make a pro-western Ukraine ungovernable, and to topple an administration that it says is illegitimate and is backed by Russian-hating “fascists”.
In Slovyansk and elsewhere, groups of professional-looking gunmen with modern Russian weapons have stormed buildings before melting away to let local pro-Moscow volunteers take over. This week, they took several armoured personnel carriers from Ukrainian paratroopers who apparently surrendered.
“There are no armed people in this building,” said Vladimir Makovich, another senior figure in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“We want all questions to be decided peacefully . . . But we expect provocations from Kiev. We know they are planning special operations against us,” he added.
“So we cannot take down our barricades. If we did, we would have a situation like Mariupol.”
In that nearby city on Wednesday night, three pro-Russian militants were killed, several injured and dozens arrested in clashes with Ukrainian forces at a military base.
Protesters deny Kiev’s claim that the men tried to storm the facility.
Despite widespread dissatisfaction with – and some fear of – the new government in the east, there have been no huge demonstrations demanding its dismissal.
But instead of reassuring Kiev, this fuels its suspicions that Moscow will seek some way of dramatically changing the situation; officials fear invasion and say the Kremlin is creating a “terrorist network” in the country.
Border activity
Barely a day after a glimmer of hope was spied in Geneva, Russia and the US were last night again trading accusations, and Moscow admitted that it had boosted its military presence near Ukraine in response to the crisis.
“The Donetsk People’s Republic exists and is moving towards a referendum,” insisted Mr Makovich.
“It has nothing to do with Kiev. What the people of Donetsk decide will determine what happens later. The referendum is the first step of a process, not the last.”
