The Ukrainian army is trying to make sure its message gets across in foreign media, but as FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports, it has not succeeded in drowning out Russian and separatist propaganda in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
After Thursday’s uptick in violence in Donbas, the Ukrainian army had one main message, expressed by Oleksandr Pavluk, Commander of Joint Forces Operation, the Ukrainian army in Donbas: "We returned fire only when there was a threat to the lives of our servicemen, after exhausting all attempts to get a ceasefire via the OSCE and our coordination group with Russia."
The Ukrainian army had flown a group of journalists in to see the kindergarten that was shelled Thursday morning. Ukrainian soldiers argued that the trajectory of the shell means it must have come from enemy territory.
But the kindergarten staff have to live with their separatist neighbours and remained vague.
"Driving on the roads around here you can very often pick up the broadcasts of Russian radio – and the propaganda channels that exist over there in the occupied territories," said Oleksandr Kachura, author of ‘Shreds of War’.
Click on the video player above to watch the full report.
