Ukraine’s Slow Descent Into Madness

While it fights rebels in the east, Kiev is beginning to crumble from the inside.

By Lucian Kim

23 October 2014 | http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/10/petro_poroshenko_is_facing_rebels_and_growing_discontent_can_the_ukrainian.html

KIEV, Ukraine—Less than a year ago, Viktor Yanukovych was not yet the disgraced former president of Ukraine and ruled over his impoverished but peaceful nation from Mezhyhirya, his sprawling residence outside Kiev. Here Yanukovych entertained his cronies aboard a fake Spanish galleon, watched TV from the comfort of his wood-paneled Jacuzzi, and prayed for redemption in a jewel-encrusted private chapel.