The Ukraine – Russia War

Ukraine is at war with Russia. This has been said before, but it has never been more evident than it was during the fighting of the last two weeks. The conflict in the Donbas, which flared up again once the winter fighting season resumed, has changed in character. Before, it was a hybrid war, in which Russian conventional forces, although they carried out the heavy fighting, were flanked by volunteer forces and irregulars and faced off against a Ukrainian force that had the voluntary Maidan battalions at its core. Now, it has turned into a de facto conventional war between regular armed forces: the Ukrainian army on one side, the Russian army on the other. The pro-Russian separatists are involved only in secondary tasks, protecting the Russian flanks or guarding prisoners. The volunteer Ukrainian battalions, due to the lack of proper anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicles as well as incoherent leadership, are bleeding to death.

• Primary Source

ESO: Key Source: Euromaidan - Protests in Ukraine 2013 - 2015 - Key source http://www.europeansources.info/record/euromaidan-protests-in-ukraine-2013-2015/

ESO: Background information: Ukraine conflict: Security in east deteriorating, say observers http://www.europeansources.info/record/ukraine-conflict-security-in-east-deteriorating-say-observers/

ESO: Background information: Statement of the Heads of State or Government [Ukraine] http://www.europeansources.info/record/statement-of-the-heads-of-state-or-government-ukraine/

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