Ukraine Rebels Are Not United

Pro-Russian separatist fighters from the so-called Battalion Vostok (East) travel on an armored vehicle in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

Patchwork Makeup of Rebels Fighting Ukraine Makes Peace Talks Elusive -- New York Times

DONETSK, Ukraine — One rebel group, Oplot, comes from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Another, the Russian Orthodox Army, is composed of Russians and Ukrainians. A third, named for a river, Kalmius, is made up mainly of coal miners.

This motley mix forms just part of the fighting force of Ukraine’s eastern uprising. It is more patchwork than united front: Some groups get along with others. Some do not. And their leaders seem to change with the weather.

“I can’t keep them straight anymore,” said a fighter who was buying walkie-talkies in preparation for what fighters here expect will be a major showdown with Ukraine’s military.

The tangle of rebel groups presents a challenge for Ukraine as it struggles to quell a separatist movement inflaming its eastern edge, now in its fifth month. While the United States, the European Union and Russia would like to arrange a negotiated settlement, the fluidity and occasional hostility among the rebel groups is complicating the difficult task of getting peace talks off the ground.

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My Comment: Many of these groups are locally based, and they are fighting because of local issues coupled with a hostility towards Kiev and Ukrainian nationalists. Can they be united  under one umbrella .... for the moment I doubt it .... but as the fighting continues anything becomes possible.