A dubious court verdict, tense street demonstrations, punitive actions against pro-Russian interests – could Ukraine be headed for another bout of instability and unrest?

President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine did not see eye to eye on all matters with the International Monetary Fund after the IMF ended an extended mission to the country without an agreement on new disbursements of a programme agreed last year.

Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates on February 14 signed an agreement to dramatically boost arms cooperation. The $1 billion agreement was signed in Dubai during a visit by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Putin has said nothing about any new incursion more than seven years after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula and Moscow proxies took over large chunks of eastern Ukraine – 14,000 people have died in the ensuing conflict.

The project was launched in the aftermath of last year’s unprecedented mass protests which clearly jolted Lukashenko after his disputed re-election to a sixth term and the widespread, and often brutal, use of security forces and the courts to crush dissent.