European leaders are pushing Putin and Ukraine's President Poroshenko to figure out another ceasefire—which some, including Rutgers political science professor Alexander J. Motyl, are suspicious of, arguing that Russia didn't do much to honor the earlier one. But the new Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey has vowed to retake Crimea. That doesn't sound very promising.

Meanwhile, here are some photos by Chris Collison of Kiev's Maidan Square on Feb 20 and June 9 of this year:

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  • Chris Collison

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  • Chris Collison

Collison also has some recent photos of the rise of the American-style hamburger in Kiev in the months following the popular uprising that ousted Kremlin stooge Viktor Yanukovych. "Ukraine is a nation in transition," he writes, "and so is its kitchen." Here's hoping Ukrainians will be thinking about barbecues more often than warfare in the very near future.