Plenty of Room at the Top of Ukraine’s Fading Rebellion
In the real war in eastern Ukraine, it is an inauspicious time to hold a high command in the separatist forces. Under relentless pounding by the Ukrainian military, their rebellion is crumbling. Government troops have advanced to the outskirts of Donetsk, and over the weekend broke into the rebels’ other remaining stronghold, Luhansk.
In the wake of these and other setbacks, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia appears to be maneuvering for a face-saving settlement, analysts say, a way to escape a losing situation without puncturing his strongman image or antagonizing the ultranationalists at home who were expecting him to follow up his annexation of Crimea with an invasion of Ukraine.
Step 1 has been a change in leadership. In recent weeks, in what separatist officials hopefully call the “Ukrainianization” of the leadership, almost all the original Russian leaders of the rebellion have resigned and gone home, replaced by Ukrainians of dubious qualifications.
More: Plenty of Room at the Top of Ukraine’s Fading Rebellion