The Battle for Novorussiya

[Lauren Johnson]

A few more items from Fort Russ

OSCE is reporting heavy fighting

Not only did OSCE report heavy fighting using "forbidden weapons" (i.e., heavy artillery that was supposed to have been withdrawn) and counted over 1,000 shots from mortars and artillery pieces, it also pointed the finger at the Right Sector as the responsible party for initiating these fights. DPR units are suspending their training maneuvers and are assembling in preparation for the worst--the possibility of the resumption of full-scale fighting.

[B]DPR reports shooting down a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile

According to the war correspondent Dmitriy Kotenok, the missile was launched from the vicinity of Kramatorsk, but failed to reach Donetsk as it was shot down above the city by an unspecified air defense system. The warhead's explosion was responsible for the extremely loud bang heard in Donetsk during the Easter night.

[B]Why the Donbass got rid of Strelkov
The author argues that Igor Strelkov [Girkin] never managed to secure the loyalty and support of the people of Donbass, largely because of his political ideas which harken back to the 19th century. In the words of the author, Aleksandr Chalenko, he is an old-school monarchist who views the October Revolution as something that destroyed the Russia that he still loves--a traditional, monarchist, tsarist, conservative one. But that outlook is severely at odds with the Donbass ethos, which is one of Soviet-era industrialization, "storming", Stakhanovites, and Five-Year Plans, where the nostalgia for the Tsarist era is simply non-existent. I would also argue there is an additional political dimension to Strelkov's ouster and de-facto exile--he is Novorossia's "world revolution" Trotsky, as compared to the more cautious (and more competent) Zakharchenko, who has a more Stalinist leadership style and outlook. [/B][/B]