Ukrainians Drive Off Rebels and Their 'Blood Candy'

You can't go wrong with free candy, right? Wrong, at least in divided eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, separatists held a rally for kids in Donetsk against the "bloodthirsty Kiev junta." Militants offered families big boxes of sweets which had, they said, been stolen from a warehouse. At first, recipients excitedly took their share of the haul, the Washington Post reports. Then they realized that the sweets came from Roshen, president-elect Petro Poroshenko's candy company.

In Donetsk, Poroshenko is considered responsible for regional violence, the Post notes. The treats were quickly dubbed "blood candy," with some suggesting it was poisoned. "Poroshenko can’t both murder us and feed us at the same time!" said one woman. Locals threw candy at the militants' van and trampled it on the ground, even as fighters protested: "We wanted to give candy to children! That’s all! What difference does it make where it came from?" Ultimately, the candy-bearing militants were forced to drive away. (More Ukraine stories.)