Tens of thousands of people in central Moscow protested against the Putin government’s involvement in bloody conflict in Ukraine that’s taken more than 3,000 lives.  The government said the anti-Kremlin rally attracted barely more than that grim number, although the activists say that’s a serious underestimate.

Organizers tallied people passing through police metal detectors at the beginning of the march at Pushkin Square and counted 26,000 people.  Even the video of the scene on Sakharov Avenue suggested far more participants than the 5,000 claimed by the government.

The protesters flew Russian and Ukrainian flags to emphasize what they view as a conflict between peoples who until a few months ago had close ties.  They chanted “No to War!” and demanding an end to the violence, which they termed "irresponsible" and "aggressive".  Ukraine and the west accuse the Kremlin of arming separatists in eastern Ukraine, but Moscow denies this. 

The fighting raged on near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, despite the truce signed earlier this month – a deal NATO now believes exists “in name only”.  Over the weekend, NATO Supreme Commander General Philip Breedlove said the number of artillery rounds fired recently is exactly the same number fired before the truce.

But the Ukrainian government and eastern rebels managed to exchange prisoners, scoring a big public relations coup for Kiev.  38 rebels were exchanged for 35 Ukrainian soldiers in a swap over the weekend.  One was a Ukrainian with dual Israeli citizenship who fought for the Russian-backed rebels and was wounded before being captured.  But upon release, he called his former comrades “semi-criminal”. 

"Both sides are trying to show that they are not anti-Semitic because they have Jews fighting with them," said Russian Jewish journalist Alex Kogan.  The region has a terrible history of anti-Semitism, especially during World War II.