Apprised of these deeds, the authorities of the People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR) called on the Ukrainian authorities to stop such crimes against humanity and urged the OSCE and UN representatives to take cognizance of the facts and to take action so that such provocations of the FAU can no longer take place.
One can only speculate on what motivated this new crime -- and what could have happened to these innocent people had the DPR army not been respecting the ceasefire. And especially about the propaganda and diplomatic use that Ukraine could have made of the death of these civilians.
But this new provocation demonstrates once again how little respect the Ukrainian army and the SBU have for the civilians of the Donbass that they claim they have come "to liberate."
And this moral abyss of the Ukrainian army is reflected in the number of desertions and clashes between their own soldiers which continue to increase following the year-end holidays and the leaves granted on this occasion.
So yesterday, the second-in-command of the Army of the Democratic Republic of the Donetsk, Edward Bassurin, announced that a soldier of the 2nd Battalion of the 30th Mechanized Brigade had left his post with his weapon and had left for the Volnovakha area, to sell his weapon and ammunition and go back home in central Ukraine with the money from the sale.
At the same time, a soldier of the 1st Battalion of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade also deserted. As a result the soldiers of the battalion are now restricted to the base, which has provoked a resurgence of alcohol abuse in the unit.
And today it was announced that four soldiers of the 501st Battalion of the 36th Marine Infantry Brigade left their positions with weapons and ammunition, while their colleagues of the 137th Battalion fought amongst themselves with weapons, leaving three wounded .
Following these new desertions, the FAU formed a rapid response squad with soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 36th Brigade, and sent it from Mariupol to the area in question to find the AWOL soldiers. This search team was ordered to arrest the men or kill them if they used their weapons.
As can be seen, the stalemate of the conflict and the worsening of the general situation in Ukraine have accelerated the collapse of the Ukrainian army -- which has never shone in motivation for combat.
And all the while the most radical elements of this decaying army are committing more and more war crimes thanks to the complicity and silence of the authorities of Kiev and their Western bosses.
I am darn sure that the examples of Ukrainian military desertions and AWOLs given in this article are but the tip of a large iceberg. I doubt that McCain's visit did much to boost morale in the ranks because many people in the Ukraine can see that Victoria Nulands' cookies were all the aid the U.S. is going to give.