Stable Genius said:

He also said the Ukraine armed forces are bombing civilian areas, and that those attacks have increased even though there are not Russian military in those areas.

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In Donetsk, Aleskandr Boroday, a Russian citizen and editor of the conservative newspaper Zavtra, replaced Gubarev [a local Ukrainian] as people’s governor. In Slovyansk, Boroday’s close associate, Strelkov, sacked Ponamorev and proclaimed himself as the people’s mayor of Slovyansk. Strelkov, a veteran of conflicts in Transnistria, Serbia, and the Chechen wars and allegedly an operative for Russia’s military intelligence (GRU), would become an important figure in this conflict. This change in leadership marks the true beginning of the separatist movement and the transition from political warfare to insurgency.

Rather than wait to hold a referendum on the status of the regions, commanders, such as Strelkov and his comrade Igor Bezler (whose nom de guerre is Bes [Demon]), stormed the buildings of the local administration and proclaimed the territories under their control as republics. Strelkov publicly takes credit for launching the conflict. It is unknown if he operated under Russian command or independently, but his actions prevented a restoration of order by Ukrainian authorities as occurred in Odessa and Kharkiv, where crackdowns ended protests and the local elites chose to side with the national government. When Strelkov declared the Donetsk Republic, he shifted the cause from federalization to outright secession from Ukraine, which was always his personal intention.

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The proclamation by Strelkov of the DNR on April 7 marked a more concerted attempt to unify effort and command among the separatists behind a political structure. Pro-Russian separatists would declare a Luhansk People’s Republic a few weeks later. Eventually Strelkov took overall command and control of a large conglomeration of fighters called the South-East Army, becoming the leading political figure of the separatist movement. Although he was able to attract members of some pro-Russian organizations, including the East Front and Donbas People’s Movement, Strelkov was unable to monopolize the use of force in the area. Local elites, who formed their own battalions, preferred to maintain their autonomy. Such units as Vostok Battalion in Donetsk, headed by a former commander of Ukrainian Alfa special forces in the region, and Zarya in Luhansk, primarily comprising local residents, acted independently of Strelkov’s South-East Army.

From April 15 to 23, Ukrainian army and Interior Ministry forces mounted efforts to respond to the separatists. Most of the deployed units in the east were halted outside the captured cities by a handful of crude checkpoints and several pro-Russian civilian mobs. Ukrainian security forces were ineffective for two reasons. First, at the time, the Ukrainian army existed largely on paper, with perhaps only 6,000 combat-capable troops available. Second, Ukrainian army commanders spoke Russian and were disinclined to fight against fellow Russian speakers or order troops into civilian areas.

From late April to late May, the Ukrainian army mounted a more deliberate campaign to contain the pro-Russian rebellion by securing key terrain around Donbas cities held by the separatists. The objective of this strategy was to position the military for a decisive offensive against the rebel enclave once Ukraine’s national mobilization, including the May 1 reintroduction of mass conscription for men, had been completed. After taking outlying cities, Ukraine’s army planned to isolate and besiege Donetsk and Luhansk. Meanwhile, Russia apparently supplied the rebels with shoulder-fired and self-propelled Strela-10M short-range systems. Russian forces massing on Ukraine’s borders grew beyond 40,000, diverting Ukraine’s deployments to its borders, defending cities such as Kharkiv, rather than to the conflict zone, because of the threat of large-scale invasion.

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