It is difficult to assess immediately but the use of the armed forces and heavy weaponry in Mariupol on May 9th will be seen as a turning point in the stand off between Kyiv acting authorities and the Russian speaking communities of Ukraine South and South East with Kyiv loosing all its credibility as fit to run a country.
Up to that date, Kyiv stance to refuse to enter negotiations with "terrorists" or otherwise called "Russian activists" but ready to deal with law abiding representatives of the Russian speaking communities with promises of deals possible over the Russian language status, the Regions autonomy and understanding for the Culture gap, had little credibility among the population and many were afraid of deception from the authorities but still wanted to believe in a future within Ukraine through federalism and a compromise to respect every community culture and interest.
Mariupol's military operation shows otherwise. May 9th is for South and South East Russian speaking communities culture a very important date celebrating the victory and the end of the war against Nazi Germany, Kyiv knows everything there is to know about the symbol and its signification for these communities therefore the decision to go ahead with a heavy hand on Mariupol very very secondary objectives of a controversial military campaign the results show, a police station destroyed and more than 50 per cent of casualties being civilians on this special date exposing civilian processions celebrating show at least no wisdom whatsoever but probably much more and that is a total contempt for a culture and its people compromising the opportunity of a true and respectful dialogue.