Ukraine’s Pro-Putin Rebels Prepare For A Last Stand -- David Patrikarakos, Daily Beast
Driven out of a major stronghold by the Ukrainian army, separatists have pulled back to the east’s biggest city.
DONETSK, Ukraine — They call it the “authority bra”: The push-up undergament worn by a certain type of female official in the more Soviet parts of Eastern Europe is not about sex but power—and it works. (Try standing up to officialdom with that amount of cleavage brandished at you.) It’s a popular look in Donetsk and was worn like a flak jacket by the formidable ticket collector who ushered me off the train at the central station of city waiting for a siege. Kiev was a world away.
I arrived on Saturday, July 5, and the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the headquarters of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Donetsk” (DNR), had gone into lockdown. Following Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko’s June 30 announcement of the end of a unilateral ceasefire between the government and pro-Russia separatists, news was coming through that the Ukrainian army had pushed DNR forces out of the nearby town of Slavyansk after three months of heavy fighting.
Read more ....
Update: Ukraine rebel commander says will not pull out of Donetsk -- Reuters
My Comment: Everyone is preparing for the worse.