A Look At the Pro-Russian Separatists Fighters In Eastern Ukraine

An armed pro-Russian separatist walks near the site of an explosion in a regional administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk June 3, 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

In Ukraine, Separatist Militia With Russian Fighters Holds A Key -- New York Times

DONETSK, Ukraine — Surface-to-air missiles pilfered from army bases. Defectors from Ukraine’s elite special forces. Russian fighters who slipped across a porous border.

These are some of the biggest problems facing Ukraine’s military in the rebellious east, and they were all on prominent display here in the unlikely setting of the Donetsk Botanical Garden, where the Vostok Battalion, the largest separatist militia in this city of one million people, has established a training camp.

“We are an international battalion,” said Aleksandr Khodakovsky, the rebel commander, who led the government’s Alfa special forces unit in the Donetsk region until he resigned after the February revolution in Kiev. Mr. Khodakovsky said that Russian citizens were among his fighters, but that the “overwhelming majority” of his force of more than 500 came from eastern Ukraine. He denied any link to Russia.

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My Comment: Two months ago .... most of these men never thought that they would be doing what they are doing today. But Ukraine is a polarized country right now .... and even though Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko has vowed to pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict .... he has given the green light for the Ukraine military to launch airstrikes on civilian populated centers and to send in militias aligned with ultra-nationalist groups like Right-Sector into the fight. My prediction .... this is going to be a very hot summer in eastern Ukraine .... and the conflict is probably going to spread into other regions of Ukraine.