up to this point, from his [Putin's]point of view, the Ukrainian situation was all going reasonably well.
The same happened in Syria last year . The situation was "all going reasonably well" for the Syrian army when the chemical attack on Ghouta occurred, which the Western media immediately blamed on the Syrian government . The media said at the time that it was "probably" a Syrian army commander acting without direct orders from Assad but that the regime that Assad headed was responsible
" Kerry publicly cited last week: intercepted communications telling Syrian military units to prepare for the chemical strikes.
"The Obama administration maintains it intercepted communications from a senior Syrian official on the use of chemical weapons.........."
The statement from Kiev yesterday :
"SBU intercepts phone conversations of separatists admitting downing a civilian plane...."