As US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting allies in Kiev, the trouble in Eastern Ukraine was crossing an ominous threshold.  The bodies of two men – one of them a local pro-government politician – were found “tortured to death” and dumped in a river near Sloviansk.

“The terrorists who effectively took the whole Donetsk region hostage have now gone too far,” said acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, as he ordered the relaunch of military operations against pro-Russian militants in the east. 

Politician Vladimir Rybak had gone missing recently.  He was a local councilor for Turchynov’s Fatherland party in the nearby town of Horlivka.  The other man killed has not yet been publicly identified. 

“These crimes are being committed with the full support and connivance of the Russian Federation,” Turchynov added.  Yesterday, Ukraine and the US released photos that show the same faces in military camouflage taking part in pro-Russian occupations Georgia in 2008, in Crimea earlier this year, and in Eastern Ukraine now.  It suggests Russian Special Forces running the show in each instance.

Biden called on Moscow to urge the pro-Russian separatists to back down.  The US will give Ukraine another chunk of money – US$50 Million for political and economic reforms including the presidential election on 25 May.  The Pentagon is also sending additional 600 troops to take part in NATO military exercises in the three Baltic states and Poland.  Each of those countries are alarmed by Moscow’s grabs at territories that used to be part of the Soviet sphere of influence, as they once were.